One of my English assignments was to write two poems at the end of our semester. I didn't know what to write. After the class, I ended up reading books and enjoying them more, even poetry.
Madelyn Covino ‘22 didn’t expect to discover that poetry was a therapeutic means of self-expression. A nursing major, Covino said she took a literature course because she needed to fill an elective.
“I ended up really liking it,” she said. The English Studies course was taught by Professor Katharine Covino (no relation). “One of her assignments was to write two poems at the end of our semester. I was sitting here thinking, ‘I don’t know what to write.’”
Inspiration came from real life. When not in class, Covino works as a nursing assistant at Winchester Hospital. Working in healthcare during a pandemic, Covino has seen a lot, from shifts in pediatrics to seeing patients die. There were stressful times, but they have confirmed for her that she is on the right path. “My mom is a nurse, and I’ve always loved taking care of people,” she said.
When it came time for her own writing assignment, Covino was encouraged to look at her experience at the hospital. The result was “Night Shift,” a briskly-paced and candid account of life on a COVID ward (see sidebar).
“I wanted to open up people’s eyes to what health care workers are really going through,” Covino said. “It was right before the second wave, and I wanted to write to explain what we were going through. I work on a 23-bed unit, and for weeks we had 23 patients. For all of winter break, I was at work for almost 40 hours a week. We were so run down.”
The finished poem resonated with Covino’s peers, and she was encouraged to submit it for consideration to the Undergraduate Conference on Research and Creative Practice, which was being conducted virtually this year after being canceled outright in 2020 because of the pandemic.
“I didn’t think I would get chosen,” Covino said. “I got supportive emails from my nursing professors, saying it’s a great representation of what we have to go through as nurses taking care of patients in the hospital. After Professor Covino’s class, I started reading books and enjoying them a little bit more, even poetry.”
Professor Covino and Assistant Librarian for Instruction and Research Services Renee Fratantonio co-chaired the research conference. They were pleased they could pivot to a virtual conference this year, which meant students would still get the valuable experience of sharing their high-level scholarly and creative work.
One advantage of the virtual conference is the work will remain visible online, Covino said. “For the students, they can put it on their resume and it’s live,” she said. The site housing this year’s projects can be found at fitchburgstate.edu/ug-conference.
“The skills that they learned for developing and producing a video presentation are highly transferable,” Fratantonio added. “These are skills they can use across any of the disciplines, and beyond college as well. This entire situation has been difficult for all of us, but imagine the level of technology literacy that our students have had to develop on the fly. Those are skills that are highly desirable in the workforce. These are things you don’t typically learn within a college program.”
Night Shift
by Madelyn Covino ’22
Waking up at 5:30pm
Eating dinner, getting ready for work
It became the rhythm
Off to work, coffee ready to go
Stop! Mask!
Did you get cleared to work today?
No symptoms, right?
Good, have a nice shift
On the floor, assignment ready to go
Stop! Scrub Cap!
What patients do we have today?
Same as yesterday no doubt
Off to the vitals
Stop! N95! Surgical mask too!
Ready? Nope!
Goggles!
Sanitize… Gown… gloves… supplies
Ready!... in room one, out of room one
Gloves off… gown off… sanitize… document…
Room two… sanitize… gown… gloves
And 100x times to go
2 hours later vitals done
Water? Nope!
Call bells need answering
Around, around we go
Vitals again
Sanitize… Gown… gloves… supplies
Ready!... in room one, out of room one
Gloves off… gown off… sanitize… document…
Room two… sanitize… gown… gloves
Break? No time to eat
Patients, they need us
3am here we go again
Sanitize… Gown… gloves… supplies
Ready!... in room one, out of room one
Gloves off… gown off… sanitize… document…
Room two… sanitize… gown… gloves
5am almost there
Just a few more things to do
But first call bells
On call bells
Every time in someone’s room
Sanitize… Gown… gloves… supplies
Ready!
7am is here
N95 off, goggles off,
regular mask back on
time to leave
Sanitize!
This story first appeared in the Summer 2021 edition of Contact magazine.