Meet Dianne Ferraro who is one of the 45,000 dedicated caregivers working on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic to protect and care for the Commonwealth’s nursing home residents. Dianne is a Nurse Unit Manager at Alliance Health at Rosewood in Peabody.
After an unprecedented year battling the COVID-19 pandemic, Dianne reflects about the times when she and the care team became more than caregivers for residents. “We needed to be their families when their loved ones could not visit. It has really changed me and how I care for my residents.” Dianne shares how she and the staff at Rosewood made sure residents stayed connected with family members through window visits, FaceTime and telephone calls. The residents would light up when they saw or heard the voices of their loved ones. Dianne worked tirelessly to ensure residents were communicating with their family members often while keeping them protected from the virus.
Early in the pandemic, Dianne made the difficult decision to quarantine from her three children for nearly two months so she could continue working as a nurse while keeping her own family safe. Dianne’s children went to live with a relative, meanwhile Dianne opened her home to another nurse at Rosewood facing the same dilemma. Dianne and her children were able to reunite on Mother’s Day last year when weekly COVID-19 testing became available for long term care staff and she knew her family would be safe. Dianne’s selflessness, compassion and dedication to her residents are the reasons she is a healthcare hero.
SHARE YOUR STORY TODAY
Stories of our long term care heroes are more important than ever to share. Mass Senior Care is requesting caregiver stories of our long term care heroes which will be featured in the Mass Senior Care E-News Update and highlighted in weekly communication with lawmakers. We are interested in interviewing long term care staff of all positions that have a story to share about working in nursing facilities or long term care during the COVID-19 pandemic.