National Nurses United

Ositelu said he would pick up Gbodi from the hospital after her overnight shift and they would start making the rounds to her "community patients," a caseload of about 18 people when she died. "If anyone was sick in the church, she would go visit them in the hospital or their home and ask them what they would need," recounted Gbodi's middle daughter, Rebecca, 21. "[She would] make sure they were getting their medication, make sure they were showering, make sure they were okay." Gbodi's family said she often kept in touch with her hospital patients once they were discharged, caring for them in their homes and never accepting payment for her work outside the hospital. "My mother literally went days without sleeping," said Rebecca. When pressed on how she was able to do it, "She always said that she could do it 'by the will of God.'" On Sunday, April 19, 2020, Gbodi passed away from COVID-19 at the hospital where she had worked for 16 years. She was 54 years old. Gbodi became ill after caring for an infected patient at the hospital. She was one of at least 10 nurses out of 36 RNs on her medical-surgical unit who contracted the virus. Helen Gbodi was born in Liberia in 1965, the eldest of eight children born to Victoria and Soloman Gbodi. She was raised in Nigeria and maintained a close connection to her childhood home. In 1998, Gbodi immigrated to the United States after winning the "diversity lottery" which granted permanent resident visas to people from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Already a registered nurse in Nigeria, Gbodi settled in Washing - ton, D.C. when her eldest daughter, Ranti, now 27, was 6 years old. Eventually, Gbodi's mother also came to live in the United States, as did one brother and a sister. In addition to caring for her 11-year-old daughter, Angel, and working full time, Gbodi ran the church food bank, headed up the church health department, and helped care for her 9-year-old granddaughters, Naliyah and Neveah. Gbodi loved to dance and dress up for a night out. "She loved fashion, especially when it came to her traditional outfits, she loved it. She would get a matching purse and matching shoes, matching attire," said Rebecca. Ositelu said his wife of eight years carried herself with style. "She liked to be elegant like a queen and I always called her my queen," he said. Rebecca said her mother delighted in her children's successes, stressed the importance of education, and encouraged her to "be who I want to be, do what I want to do." "I wanted to become a pilot," she recounted. "I remember the first time I went on one of my flights; she was more excited than I was, honestly. She just loved the idea of me going up there and learning to fly." A deeply religious person, Ranti said it was her mother's faith that sustained her throughout her life. "She believed we were all created for a purpose and she just felt she was literally walking in her purpose," said Ranti. "She never stayed still. I think, for her, staying still meant she wasn't doing anything to impact the world. She wanted to make sure that she left a footprint." The daughters said they wish their mother had the chance to see Angel graduate from high school and Rebecca and Ranti graduate from college. But most of all, they wish she had had the chance to relax. "She never got to really enjoy all the hard work that she put in to raising us. We never got to give it back to her the way all three of us would want to give it to her," said Ranti, imagining a different future where she would have had a chance to care for her mother, or buy her a ticket to travel around the world. Rebecca said her mother used to say one day when the children were grown, she would finally be able to relax and get a white couch. But now she said, "She will never get her white couch." —Rachel Berger Sandra Oldfield, RN she was "sandy" to friends, family, and coworkers. She was a dedicated union member and activist with the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United. On May 25, RN Sandra Oldfield, a beloved nurse at Kaiser Permanente Fresno Medical Center in Fresno, Calif., died from COVID-19. Oldfield was 53 years old and worked in the Telemetry West unit for 25 years. She is survived by her siblings. "Sandy was one of the pioneer nurses of Kaiser Fresno Medical 40 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 2 0 Sandra Oldfield, RN Noel Sinkiat, RN Helen Gbodi, RN

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