Open Forum tonight and heartfelt condolences for the first WV Nurse to die from COVID-19
Posted about 4 years ago by Julie Huron
It is with deep sorrow that we share with you that the first West Virginia nurse has died from COVID-19. We have included correspondence from WVU Health System and WVU Medicine President and CEO Albert Wright.
We know that hearing about the death of a fellow nursing colleague can be truly inconceivable, especially during a world-wide pandemic and we at WVNA join you in mourning the loss of Jeannette Williams-Parker.
WVNA plans to recognize Jeannette at our nursing policy summit on March 25, 2021 as well as at our nursing conference in October of 2021.
WVNA is here to support WV nurses as you deal with COVID-19 grief, PTSD, work stress, and to offer nurses general support. Please join our Open Forum call tonight at 7pm.
Topic: WVNA Open Forum
Time: Oct 6, 2020 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Earlier this week, we learned the unfortunate news that a long-time WVU Medicine employee in Morgantown, who had recently tested positive for COVID-19, passed due to complications from the disease. She was just 48. By all accounts, Jeannette Williams-Parker – “Nettie” to her many friends and co-workers, who she described affectionately as her “work family” – lived a life filled with love, peace, and many, many adoring friends, family members, and co-workers. She was engaged to Bryan Inghram, also an employee at Ruby (in dietary), and her 18-year old daughter, Haley, is experiencing her first semester at WVU as a nursing student.
Jeannette was a clinical nurse preceptor and nurse supervisor of MRI. She joined the MRI team at Ruby in March of 1997 and was the first nurse to work in that program. At the time of her death, she was the nursing leader for all pediatric anesthesia coordination and our focused ultrasound MRI program. I’m told that Jeannette lived on the sunny side of life, and that her energy, enthusiasm, and positive attitude were all highly infectious and helped sustain the MRI team. The patients for whom she cared likewise adored her. And while I never had the opportunity to meet Jeannette, honoring and remembering her is important, as is celebrating her life and recognizing her many contributions to WVU Medicine.
Jeannette’s passing is also an unwelcome reminder that COVID-19 remains with us. Our collective hope is that one day soon we can resume our daily lives and put all of this behind us. Unfortunately, we just aren’t there yet, and regrettably, the loss of someone who was so cherished as “Nettie” reminds us that we still have some tough days ahead.
I continue to believe one of the best ways we can honor people, such as Jeannette and the many more who’ve worked the frontlines since the beginning of the pandemic, is to recognize that we are still in the midst of a pandemic and that as healthcare workers, we are in a unique position to educate others about the virus, and the simple and reasonable steps that we can all take to help limit its spread. We can flex our collective leadership in honor of these individuals, and make sure we all work to protect one other, especially those most important to us.
For those of you inclined to do so, Jeannette’s daughter has created a Go Fund Me page in honor of her. Please keep Jeannette, her family and friends, as well as her work family, in your thoughts. Thank you.
Kindest regards,
Albert
