M I N I ST R I E S
Resurrection, Longwood Parishioner Serves on COVID-19 Front Lines By Nina Keck
A
rmed with a strong faith and years of experience, Brenda Lanaris, a registered nurse and parishioner of Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Longwood, left her comfortable job at Orlando Health and spent two months working at a New York City hospital. A conversation with two furloughed nurses prompted her journey. “I talked to them when we fitted them for Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and masks,” she said. Lanaris learned that the two worked for a travel nurse company meeting the calls of cities hit hard by COVID-19. Lanaris believed God could use her in New York despite the potential dangers. “Mother Teresa was in the pit of awfulness every day and lived to be 83. She was a nurse when there were no vaccines. So what is the difference now when she is your model?”
Lanaris spent time praying with patients and talking with patients and families. Photo courtesy of Brenda Lanaris
Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, where Lanaris worked for 8 weeks Photo courtesy of Brookdale University Hospital
In March, Lanaris sent a text to the travel nurse company and promptly received a response affirming interest and need. On April 24, she resigned from Winnie Palmer Hospital.
They had lost two security guards and a nurse manager to COVID-19,” Lanaris said. “The other travel nurses and I were able to provide much-needed support to the stressed-out nurses who had been working 16-hour shifts every day.”
But she didn’t share her plans with her family or church until everything was in place. “I told our church choir at a Zoom meeting,” Lanaris said. “The choir was very supportive. Two of our members had connections to COVID-19 deaths in New York City.
And Lanaris saw God’s hand throughout this journey. “First, I saw the nurses getting ready to go to New York,” she explained. “I received a ‘yes’ text from the travel nurse company. They recruited me, and I had a job assignment.”
“When I heard this, I wished I could have been there earlier to help their loved ones,” Lanaris said. “I felt their prayers while I was in Brooklyn.” She arrived there on May 6 and started work on May 8.
She also spent time praying and talking with patients and their families. “It helped them with the isolation and alleviated fears on both sides,” she said. Because of the necessity of PPE, including masks, “You had to give caring and compassion with your eyes.”
“I was there through July,” she said. “It was a labor-intensive eight-week contract. I worked four 12-hour shifts per week at Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York. The borough of Brooklyn is one of the hardest hit by the virus.”
“My daughter was concerned about the exposure and what it might do to my grandchildren,” Lanaris said. Both before she left New York City and again in Florida, “I was tested for the virus and the antibodies, and both tests were negative!” she said.
The hospital serves most of eastern Brooklyn. “Brookdale Hospital is the trauma center for that area of Brooklyn. A majority of my patients were gunshot victims with six and seven gunshot wounds, sitting up, talking to me,” Lanaris said.
In addition to her hospital work, Lanaris has long served as camp nurse for Camp Wingmann. “I have been with Camp Wingmann from its beginnings in 2000. When my kids were little, I took them with me to camp. This is the first year I’ve not been a camp nurse.”
At the height of the first wave of coronavirus, the ICU was at capacity, and patient beds lined the halls. “They were not used to bringing in Lanaris (bottom right) has been Camp Wingmann’s camp help from around the nation. nurse since 2000. Photo courtesy of Camp Wingmann
Though the travel nurse company still employs her, she remains open to other employment. “I’ll always be a nurse. It all depends on the situation. … In God’s time, and wherever he wants me to be.”
She also felt she could do the job. “I’ve had 39 years of nursing experience,” Lanaris said. “Thirty-four of those years were at Orlando Health’s Winnie Palmer Hospital, treating critical care pregnancies. I’m a certified critical care nurse.”
www.cfdiocese.org
Holy Faith Episcopal Seamstresses Pitch in for
COVID-19 Relief By DeWayne Hamby
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hen the COVID-19 outbreak happened, health care providers and hospitals around the country were in desperate need of supplies. Like so many others, Advent Hospital in Ocoee found itself in such a position, and a group of talented and creative volunteers of Holy Faith Episcopal Church in Dunnellon came to the rescue. Carol Campen, a parishioner, was a hospital volunteer until the outbreak forced the program to close. Feeling helpless amid the dire needs surrounding her, Campen was ready to let her light shine in the darkness. The hospital volunteer director soon provided her with an opportunity that would help her once again exhibit the love of Christ to her community. “She knew I sewed and wondered if I was interested,” Campen said. “I said yes, because with not being able to volunteer, I felt completely useless. I called some girls at Holy Faith, and a few of them were interested.” Campen in turn recruited four other women, and the quintet has so far supplied the hospital with around 1,000 masks. The hospital provides the materials, and the Holy Faith volunteers do the sewing and assembling. Campen said the ladies all feel a sense of accomplishment and
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