5 Powerful Stories From Nurses on the Front Lines of COVID-19

A St. Paul nurse dropped everything she had in Minnesota to make the trip of a lifetime: to New York City to help on the frontlines of one of the areas hit hardest by COVID-19.

Shareen Parashakallah, a nurse from Regions Hospital in St. Paul, left for New York City on Saturday with three of her co-workers at Regions. She and her friends resigned from the St. Paul hospital to work in the New York City hospital.

For Parashakallah, the decision to help in a dire time of need and be surrounded by passionate colleagues was a no-brainer.

"It seems like things have kind of peaked and lots of help has flooded here,” she told WCCO. “It's so great to be among fellow workers in my field that have the same passion, that came out and responded and are lending extra hands.”

Parashakallah said that her job changed between the two cities, explaining that policies and procedures were thrown to the wayside in favor of providing field medicine.

"You can plan for the day, but it's never going to go as you hoped," Parashakallah said.

Nurse appreciation came early to one nurse treating COVID-19 patients in Oakland County, Michigan.

Cassandra Ginopolis, a ICU nurse at Henry Ford West Bloomfield, was celebrated by her neighbors at 6 a.m. on her way to work one morning in April.

Shouts of "We love you," "Have a great shift," and "You're our hero!" were heard amid other words of encouragement, whoops and applause, reports WWJ.

According to her husband Peter, more than 30 people showed up to share their support.

"Thank you for making her tough day easier! Best neighbors and friends ever!!!!!!!!" he wrote on Facebook.

This is commitment in pretty much every sense of the word.

A Dallas nurse took the concept of social distancing to a whole other level when she got married over FaceTime while the groom was in another city.

The couple had planned for their wedding to take place on May 1, but social distancing guidelines threw the plans by the wayside.

That is, until a coworker of hers who also happens to be an officiant offered to perform the wedding.

"At first it kind of started off as a joke," the nurse, Adela Silva, told KRLD. "And then I was like, 'actually, why don't we go ahead and do it?'"

To avoid breaking social distancing rules, Adela schemed with her co-worker to hold the wedding in the hospital break room, and have her fiance Erick agree to his side of the pact from home over FaceTime.

Simple. Three people, one phone, an unbreakable bond. But things got really festive when more coworkers joined in.

"We just used (blown up) gloves as the bouquet...we used one of the PPE gowns as my dress, and a pillowcase as my veil," Adela remembers.

The moment was special considering everything going on.

"It went further than just being 'our day,'" said Adela. "It was a bright light in a dark time."

Jennifer Aniston gave one coronavirus frontline worker the surprise of a lifetime when she made a special appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live From His House” in early April.

The “Friends” star joined the show to surprise Kimball Fairbanks, a nurse from Utah who contracted the novel virus.

"Hi, honey, it's so good to meet you," Aniston said by video chat as shock and excitement spread across Fairbanks’ face.

Aniston thanked Fairbanks for her selflessness and sacrifice.

"I just have to say, God bless you and all of you that are out there doing what you're doing,” the actress gushed. “I just, I don't even know how to express my gratitude to everything that you guys are doing, putting your health at risk and all of that. You're just phenomenal."

Fairbanks revealed she will be furloughed from work and spending time in quarantine away from her family, including two daughters that are 4-years-old and 18-months-old, for the next two weeks.

Kimmel and Aniston had another surprise for Fairbanks to help her out with the cost of food delivery.

“You're going to be getting $10,000 gift certificate from Postmates," Aniston exclaimed.

Postmates also gifted all the nurses on Fairbanks’ floor with their own gift cards as a token of appreciation, which Kimmel said they can use whenever they catch a break.

Cindy Pascalo and Jessica DeBrocke have more in common than most mothers and daughters.

The two both live in Chicago, both work as registered nurses, and both help on the front lines of the pandemic in the ICU at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

DeBrocke said her mother joked with her that she should be a nurse because she will always have job security.

“But it was always really exciting to see how excited she was when she came home and tell stories about great things that happened,” DeBrocke told GMA.

During the pandemic, the two work together daily — and the opportunity to share withstand the challenges with someone so close is invaluable.

DeBrocke explained how it is super helpful to have someone by your side that understands your job. She said it has been beneficial to have her mother that gets it and has even benefitted her mental health.

The mother said working alongside her daughter has helped her through this difficult time.

The dynamic duo has also said that the pandemic has brought them closer, and they have learned new things about each other.

When working together, both always tell their patients that they’re mother and daughter.