Help us tell our story. Our Columbia Nursing community has demonstrated incredible flexibility and bravery during these unprecedented times. We want to show the greater Columbia community—and the world—how our students, alumni, faculty, and staff are facing today’s most pressing health care challenges by capturing your stories, and by showcasing the individuals in our community that are working on the frontlines, adapting to remote-learning, volunteering their time, and so on. We are truly #ColumbiaNursingStrong.
We want to hear from you! We highly encourage sending in photos and video, as well. Please submit your #NurseHeroes story using the form below.
We may follow up on some submissions with further questions.
Note: By submitting your story, you retain the copyrights to your story, but allow Columbia Nursing and Columbia University the right to archive and share your story publicly on external channels (social media, website, newsletter, etc.). Columbia Nursing also withholds the right to share any submitted content.
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Nurse Heroes
Meet some of our #ColumbiaNursingStrong #NurseHeroes. To read their stories, follow Columbia Nursing on social media: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.
DNP student Will Swanson volunteers at a COVID-19 testing site in New Rochelle, NY.
DNP student Sumiyah Syed-Uddin donning PPE at Care for the Homeless in New York City.
Alumni Michelle Meissner '19, volunteering for the NY Department of Health at the Bergen County Community College COVID-19 testing site in Paramus, NJ.
MDE student Eytan Israelov’s family owned business, Ganey Orly, has delivered food to more than 300 nurses throughout New York City.
Our Helene Fuld Health Trust Simulation Center donated seven anesthesia workstations and one ventilator to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Alumni Erin Pratt '19 with her colleagues in the COVID unit at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, CT.
MDE students Alexa Penton, Krystal Dawkins, and Aaron Garcia, screening patients at NewYork-Presbyterian’s Milstein Hospital.
Family nurse practitioner DNP student, Nicole Lesnett, is biking to distribute essential PPE to nurses throughout New York City.
100 students from our MDE program have volunteered to work as nurse technicians and screeners at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital to provide support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
DNP students Connie Ryu and Claire Brieva are amongst a group of DNP students on the front lines in the Oncology Care Initiation Unit at Columbia University Irving Medical Center / NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Family nurse practitioner DNP student Jeffrey Bailey moved from New York City to Carthage, NY as an answer to the call for health workers in the North Country.
Assistant professor Kellie Bryant and our Simulation Center team worked with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s nurse educators to facilitate a COVID-19 patient simulation to prepare operating room nurses who are to be redeployed to COVID units.
Alumni Angela Tuffy ‘17 working on a COVID floor at Boston Medical Center in Boston, MA.
Alumni Lodz Joseph-Lemon ’17 working on the front lines in Albany, GA, a hotspot for the coronavirus in the U.S.
Postdoc Cindy Veldhuis working with CRAC (Columbia Researchers Against Coronavirus) to do behind-the-scenes work at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital prepping PPE for health care workers.
Alumni Elisheva Rosner ’05 working on the front lines at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian. Elisheva has organized weekly Zoom conference calls for Jewish nurses on topics related to COVID-19 with upwards of 170 participants.
Alumni Kaedi Fehlberg ’05 and her colleague from John Muir Health in California’s Bay Area.
Alumni Michelle Bernabe '13 is providing “psychological first aid” during the pandemic via her weekly podcast "Pandemic Check-In."
Alumni Natasha Steinhardt '12, a midwife at Hudson River HealthCare in New York's Hudson Valley adjusting to the new normal of labor and delivery during the coronavirus outbreak.
Alumni Tatiana Ripnick ’12, working at St. Peter’s Health Partners in Albany, NY in the psychiatric crisis emergency room.
DNP student Victoria Scigliano working on the front lines of the pandemic at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York.
Alumni Francisco Diaz '05, who is also a preceptor for our Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner program, working on the COVID front lines in the emergency room at Mount Sinai West hospital in New York, NY.
Alumni Olivia Birchenough ’17 before the pandemic with her former clinical instructor and now colleague, Charlene Cort, is now working on the front lines in the PICU at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Alumni Natalie Song ’18 working on the front lines with Pacific Coast Psychiatric Associates to provide telepsychiatry to patients struggling to overcome mental health issues.
Assistant Professor Adriana Arcia has been spending her free time using drawers full of fabric remnants from her late grandmother's collection to create masks for health care workers.
MDE Student, Isabel Allen, working on the front lines at NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital.
Alumni Michaela Jones ’16 working on the COVID floor at Mount Sinai Hospital.
MDE student Avra Messe working at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital during the coronavirus pandemic.
MDE student Emily Bartlett working at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital during the coronavirus pandemic.
MDE student Margaret Murphy working in the COVID unit as a nurse tech at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
MDE students Elina Kudryavtseva and Anna Genes working at the NewYork-Presbyterian Milstein Hospital.
MDE student Caitlin de Cristo, a nurse technician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, caring for COVID-19 patients.
Katie Duke ’15 is working on the front lines. When she’s off duty, she supports other health care workers by organizing and distributing packages at the hotel where they are staying during the pandemic.
Molly Parker, an incoming MDE student beginning her Columbia Nursing career this summer, volunteers her efforts at Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital.
Yira Curry ’09 is a midwife at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn working on the front lines.
Assistant professor and provider at our ColumbiaDoctors Nurse Practitioner Group, Marie Carmel Garcon, is volunteering with United Hospice, Inc. during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alumni Elizabeth Cruz ’18 working in the Trauma and Emergency Department at Mount Sinai Morningside.
MDE student Ashlynn Lawrence working as a nurse technician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Alumni Kristen Dyroff-O’Dell ’05 working at Boston Children’s Health Physicians as a NICU nurse practitioner.
MDE student Stephanie Wang working on the front lines at NewYork-Presbyterian Milstein Hospital.
Alumni Angela Green ’19 working in the COVID unit.
Alumni Bianca Bucci ’19 working with other Columbia Nursing graduates at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital during the pandemic.
Nurse Anesthesia student Catherine White returning to the bedside to provide critical care to ICU patients.
Alumni Estefany Flores-Godaire '16 working in the labor and delivery unit at Boston Medical Center.
DNP student Minna Scott working as a nurse technician at NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital.
Alumni Maggie Beiser ’08, director of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program’s hepatitis C program, overseeing the care of homeless individuals exposed to or infected with COVID.
Eileen Meyer ‘20 and her colleague working at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital during the pandemic.
Alumni Erin Galvin ‘20 working in the ICU at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
DNP student Kristina DeMilt working as an ICU nurse in her hospital's COVID unit.
Alumni Tracy Higgins ’16 working on the frontlines of the pandemic at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
CRNA student Anastasiya Rogers assisting laboring mothers give birth alone at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital during the peak of the pandemic.
Alumni Joan Sapienza ’97 during the peak of the pandemic at Central State Medical Center in Freehold, NJ.
MDE student Julia Saltzman and her colleagues working at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Alumni Ellen Nadel '18 volunteering at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens during the pandemic.
Nurse anesthesia student Jake Forrester working as a nurse technician at NewYork-Presbyterian.
MDE student Ellie Julier standing outside of Northwell Health where she assisted on the COVID-19 floor during the pandemic.
MDE student Colette Prideaux working at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital as a nurse technician during the pandemic.
Nurse Anesthesia student Isabella Palmero caring for COVID-19 patients at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Nurse Anesthesia student Julia Ganieva at Mount Sinai Hospital delivering PPE and food for nurses.
Alumni Norita Holipas '10 and her colleague working as critical care nurses at Mount Sinai Beth Israel’s ICU.
Nurse anesthesia student Alexandra DiMarco working in the SICU to serve as an ICU nurse on the COVID-19 front lines.
Alumni Zafar Anwar ’18, a CRNA, working on the COVID-19 front lines.
