Ruth Levy, NP
Loida Lopez, Executive Assistant in Marketing at the Mount Sinai Health System, feels compelled to personally thank Ruth Levy, NP, the nurse practitioner who recently administered the COVID-19 vaccine to her aunt.
It was an emotional moment for her aunt, who lost her husband to COVID-19 in April 2020.
“My aunt was thinking that if the vaccine had been available last year, her husband might still be alive today,” Loida says. “As Ruth was explaining the vaccine process, my aunt began to remember the past and cry, so Ruth listened in a compassionate way to her speak about her family, consoled and supported her.”
Ruth has been on staff at The Mount Sinai Hospital for 26 years and has worked on the front lines caring for COVID-19 patients in the Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit since the start of the pandemic.
“I jumped at the opportunity to be deployed to the vaccine pods when needed,“ Ruth says. “I was excited to help people fight this disease after seeing so many succumb to it, but I also knew the interaction in the pods, outside of the intensity and isolation of the ICU, would be therapeutic for me.”
She continues, “My experience with Loida’s aunt was emotional for me, as well. Having supported so many families who were losing their loved ones, I had to take a deep breath upon hearing her story and sharing her talk about her loss. In a way, her husband was my patient, and we were on this journey together. We understood each other in a profound way.”
Loida also was deeply taken by her aunt’s patient experience. “I was already proud to be an employee of Mount Sinai, but hearing my aunt’s experience has made me even prouder,” she says. “Thank you again, Ms. Levy, for all you continue to do–as well as all of our health care workers. Thank you!”