Caring for our community

We have always seen our caregivers as heroes but to see their heroism acknowledged in our community has been a blessing.

In Southwest Washington, our caregivers have seen an outpouring of support from the community; from supply and food donations, to letters, signs and cards of thanks, to a fly over from our friends at JBLM, to a parade of first responders. Our caregivers have worked tirelessly to care for all our patients and their families. Some keep going by finding the compassion and camaraderie of coming together from different Providence Medical Group clinics to serve the community at our drive-thru testing site. Some have brought in flowers from their own gardens to COVID-19-positive patients who missed the entire summer gardening season. Many have gone the extra mile to connect family and friends who are unable to visit a COVID-19 patient in our ministries – even coordinating a window visit with the family pet or making sure a patient sees the balloons flying outside their room. Some have transitioned their normal roles to serve as a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) spotter, so they can make sure their fellow caregivers are utilizing the best and most appropriate forms of PPE. They praise their teammates. They are the advocates.

Here are just a few of the nearly 5,000 Providence caregivers in Southwest Washington who are caring for our community amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, sharing their roles and why they wear a mask.

Kellie Snyder, RN

• Providence Medical Group
• 5 years with Providence
• Role: I triage patients at the COVID-19 drive-thru testing site.

“I wear a mask to protect others.”

Starr Salvatore, RN

• Providence Medical Group
• 5 years with Providence
• Role: I am one of the RNs working in the COVID-19 drive-thru testing site and have been since the opening on March 20. I triage patients before they are swabbed for COVID-19.

“I wear a mask because I care about people.”

Alejandra Duarte, RN

• Providence St. Peter Hospital Medical Telemetry Unit
• 2.5 years with Providence
• Role: I am a nurse on the fifth floor, one of the designated areas where we care for COVID-19 patients.

“I wear a mask to keep my patients, co-workers and community safe.”

Samantha Carson, RN

• Providence St. Peter Hospital Medical Telemetry Unit
• 1 year with Providence
• Role: I am a nurse who provides direct care in one of our designated Covid-19 units. I ensure patients have what they need to help their healing and recovery in the hospital.

“I wear a mask to protect my grandparents.”

Janet Grant, Chaplain

• Spiritual Care at Providence St. Peter Hospital
• 14.5 years with Providence
• Role: Providing spiritual and emotional support to patients, their families and our caregivers.

“I consider wearing a mask to be a sign of respect.”

Darren Smith

• Phlebotomy and Processing Supervisor
• 34 years with Providence
• Role: I am a supervisor in the Providence St. Peter Hospital Laboratory which processes
  590,000 various types of tests per month.

“I wear a mask to keep everyone safe; protecting myself and others.”

Marcus Myers, DO

• Emergency Medicine Physician, Providence Centralia Hospital
• 2.5 years at Providence
• Role: Provide compassion and care to every person who comes into our emergency department and help them when they need it most.

“I mask to do my part to protect my patients, my fellow caregivers, my family and keep our community healthy.”

Mike Steele, RN

• Medical South Unit, Providence Centralia Hospital
• 5.5 years with Providence
• Role: I am a primary care nurse.
  I care for patients at their bedside on our inpatient medical unit.

“I mask to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.”

Katie Coleman, RN

• Charge nurse on the Medical South/COVID-19 Unit at Providence Centralia Hospital
• 5.5 years at Providence
• Role: I provide care for a variety of patients in our community and help our patients and family members understand their conditions, needs and goals during this challenging time.

“I wear a mask to protect myself and others.”

Corinne Brassey, RN

• Float Pool, Providence Centralia Hospital
• 18 years at Providence
• Role: I work in all the patient units at Providence Centralia Hospital, including the emergency department.

“I wear a mask to help people who feel vulnerable, feel safe.”

Kristi Biggers, RN, BSN

• Medical Unit, Providence Centralia Hospital
• 7 years with Providence
• Role: As a nurse, my mission is to be an advocate for my patients and an encourager of my colleagues.

“I wear a mask because mask usage has been scientifically proven to stop the spread of COVID-19. Wearing a mask is an act of compassion and demonstrates my love and respect for each person I come in contact with.”

Kristi Harriage, RN

• Charge Nurse, AMTU / COVID-19 Unit, Providence St. Peter Hospital
• 5 years with Providence
• Role: I provide primary care for acutely ill patients admitted to our COVID-19 unit and oversee other nurses who do the same.

“I mask both at work and in public for the safety of myself, my patients and my community as a whole. Proper protection, including masks, kept myself and my coworkers safe and healthy despite daily contact with COVID-19-positive patients for months. In my opinion it is an easy and effective infection-prevention measure.”

Preeti Kondal, DO

• Infectious Disease physician and medical director of Infection Prevention, Providence Southwest Washington
• 8 years with Providence
• Role: I care for patients requiring expertise in infectious disease, including COVID-19 patients. As medical director, I play an active role in safety prevention and control of infectious disease efforts, including COVID-19.

“In conjunction with other measures such as hand hygiene and social distancing, mask wearing is most effective in stopping the spread of this infection.”

Stay up to date on the CDC's recommendations for masking and how to keep yourself as protected as possible from current variants.