COVID-19 Frontline Feature - Elizabeth Kucik Lloyd, RN

Elizabeth Kucik Lloyd has served as a registered nurse at EAMC for 10 years. Typically, you can find Lloyd working as an orthopedic surgical nurse, however, since the COVID-19 outbreak, she has been working in the COVID-19 unit.

Like most EAMC employees, Lloyd explains that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, her job has looked different than her typical work day. “At the end of March, elective orthopedic surgeries were cancelled, and our floor merged with the seventh floor to become the COVID-19 non-ICU unit,” Lloyd says. “At the beginning there were so many unknowns about the disease and what our days would consist of, however, this truly brought our team closer together.”

Lloyd also describes how her unit rose to the challenge and worked together to fight COVID-19 with determination and resolve. “When we would start feeling down, our fellow frontline brothers and sisters would boost our morale by exclaiming, ‘you can do this!’,” Lloyd explains.

Since COVID-19 cases have begun to decline slightly, Lloyd has returned to her typical nursing floor, but she notes that the relationships she formed will stay with her. “The bond of fighting this disease together in the early stages will always remain,” Lloyd says. “We have had staff from all over the hospital join in to fight this disease, and I have been so impressed with EAMC’s unity and support of each other.”

According to Lloyd, every department has been affected by COVID-19, whether it be from new job descriptions to different hours. “The EAMC family has combined forces to become one unit in this battle to save and protect our community, and the support that I have felt from my EAMC team is what has given me the strength to persevere,” Lloyd says.