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St. Elizabeth frontline COVID-19 nurse gets vaccine ‘to eliminate this beast’ Terry DeMio Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
She has locked eyes with frightened patients and comforted estranged families while working on the frontlines of the novel coronavirus pandemic in Northern Kentucky. And now, Lee Ann Ernst has been inoculated with her fi rst of two COVID-19 vaccines. Months into her intense work as a nursing supervisor and as coordinator of the St. Elizabeth Infectious Disease Response Team (IDRT), Ernst found joy on Dec. 15. “I couldn’t wait to get the vaccine. I almost couldn’t sleep the night before,” she said Dec. 16. “As a nurse, with what I know, seeing what I have seen, I was excited to get the vaccine.” What Ernst has seen includes crestfallen faces of those diagnosed with COVID-19 while in the emergency room. She’s seen patients fi ght to breathe. She’s seen them ventilated. She has seen their families estranged from her patients. “Who wants to bring their loved one to the hospital, admit them and not be able to see them after that? Nobody,” Ernst said. “It’s one of the most horrible side eff ects of this. Another reason to take the vaccination.” Ernst and her team were trained for this work. She has been the only coordinator of the IDRT, as they call it, since its inception as a response to the Ebola crisis of 2014. But these core workers, of course, have never taken on such a formidable opponent as COVID-19. The pandemic has had them training hundreds of new team members – the Infectious Disease Response Team of 2020, Ernst calls them. They are centered at the St. Elizabeth-Fort Thomas hospital, the “epicenter” of COVID-19 treatment in Northern Kentucky, some employees call it. The hospital started with 14 COVID-19-focused ICU rooms with 20 adjacent rooms in waiting. Now COVID-19 treatment has taken over much of the hospital. Ernst is back treating ER patients at the Edgewood hospital. There, too, she sees the pandemic. “We have COVID patients that present to the ER I would say every day,” she said. “They come in, they’re sick, they’re
St. Elizabeth Edgewood Nursing Supervisor Lee Ann Ernst, the coordinator of the St. Elizabeth Infectious Disease Response Team, gets the COVID-19 vaccination on Dec. 15. Ernst's team of frontline caregivers was instrumental in training staff and treating COVID-19 patients at the St. Elizabeth-Fort Thomas hospital, the epicenter of treatment for the hospital system. PROVIDED.
symptomatic or maybe they have chest pain, stomach distress. You fi nd out they’ve got COVID.” Despite all of this, Ernst did not take lightly the decision to get vaccinated. She considered the science, weighed the possibility of unknown side eff ects she could get years from now, she said. But “now” is what it came down to for her. “I miss my family. I miss my friends,” Ernst said. “There’s nobody that says, ‘I don’t want to get my life back.’ Nobody says, ‘I don’t want to see my family. I don’t want to go to the store without a mask on.’ “ And from her professional perspective as a nurse at the frontlines, she said: “I know what the primary eff ects are of COVID. And I don’t want to have any part of it. Shortness of breath. The diarrhea. The blood clots.”
“According to the scientists and experts, this is the way to handle this thing,” Ernst said. “We trust the scientist to treat us and take care of us when we’re sick. Now they’re telling us as a population of people, this is what we need to do.” The choice for Ernst to get the vaccine that just received federal emergency approval for market Dec. 11 was obvious. she said. “We have to take every opportunity that we can to eliminate this beast.” LEFT: Two nurses with the St. Elizabeth Infectious Disease Response Team pose in late May 2020 after suiting up to care for patients with COVID-19. The team was the fi rst group called to the frontlines at St. E-Fort Thomas to care for novel coronavirus patients in the ICU. PROVIDED.
Historic Black cemetery vandalized with anarchist symbols, headstones toppled Cameron Knight Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
The Mary E. Smith Memorial Cemetery was vandalized this month with approximately 30 headstones toppled and others defaced with spray paint, police said. Elsmere Police Chief Joe Maier said the vandalism took place sometime in early December, possibly on Dec. 3, but no witnesses have been identifi ed and there was no video surveillance. Offi cials believe juveniles may have been behind the vandalism due to the anarchist symbols found spray-painted at the scene, the letter “A” with a circle around it. Elsmere City Manager Matt Dowling said it would be unusual for anarchists to target a Black cemetery. “Most anarchists usually are not racists, but instead believe in social equality and have a distrust of wealth, privilege, and government,” Dowling said.
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The cemetery’s board has contacted its insurance company and has asked Duke Energy to install more street lights near the cemetery. “Regardless of whether this crime was perpetrated by a juvenile, anarchist, or racist, it has no place in the City of Elsmere,” said Mayor Marty Lenof. “Our city has a long history as one of the most diverse communities in Northern Kentucky and this criminal act is not just an aff ront to people of color or those who have loved ones buried in this cemetery but to all people who live in our city.” Formally founded in 1950, the cemetery is one fi rst Black cemeteries in Northern Kentucky, offi cials said. It is located at 1120 Martin Luther King Avenue and is operated by a volunteer board. Elsmere police are still investigating the incident. Anyone with information about the vandalism is being asked to call 859-342-7344.
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A fi le photo taken prior to the vandalism showing Krista Dilworth of Walton visiting the Mary E. Smith Cemetery. MELISSA STEWART/THE COMMUNITY RECORDER
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