38 THE QUEENS COURIER • MAY 6, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
national nurses week
Photos courtesy of Galivova and Hartin
Two Queens nurses share their insight on providing critical care
during COVID-19 pandemic in celebration of National Nurses Week
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
When Oksana Galibova isn’t at Jamaica
Hospital taking care of sick patients and
leading her team of nurses to provide the
best quality care, she dedicates her time
and love to her family who gave her support
throughout her career as a nurse,
keeping her strong and motivated.
Galibova, who immigrated from Russia
to the U.S. in 1995 and resides in Rego
Park, comes from a family with a broad
history of healthcare professionals in the
medical fi eld who inspired her to become
a nurse, she said.
“When I was a little girl, I remember
sitting at a dinner table and listening to
them talk about patients they have seen
and the impact they had on them for
them to get better,” said Galibova, a clinical
nurse manager for the medical-surgical
unit at Jamaica Hospital.
Galivova started her nursing career in
Russia and when she came to the U.S.,
she attended the Hunter-Bellevue School
of Nursing at Hunter College, where she
obtained a bachelor of arts degree and
a master of arts degree in nursing. She
joined Jamaica Hospital in 2000 working
in the telemetry unit as a staff nurse
and was then promoted to assistant head
nurse, where her passion became stronger
in mentoring and teaching new nurses.
In 2010, Galibova was promoted to clinical
nurse manager of the medical-surgical
unit.
“Th is has been an amazing experience
to be a role model for newly hired nursing
staff to be at a patient’s bedside,” Galibova
said. “I love to advocate, comfort them,
and to make sure they get the best quality
care. When I see my nurses doing the
best job ever, and coming to me saying, ‘I
learned this from you’ or ‘Th is is the best
experience working with you Oksana’ that
makes me very happy.’”
Galibovahas always loved helping and
taking care of people, especially when
they’re sick, she said. In her 21-year
career as a nurse, she strives to go above
and beyond in her profession caring for
patients the way she would want her family
members to be cared for.
“When patients go home and they look
at your eyes and say ‘thank you’ when they
get better, and when their families are
reaching out to you and sending cards, I
feel like my job has been accomplished
when I see those things,” Galibova said.
Galibovais honored to lead a team of
nurses, she said, admiring their sacrifi ces
each and every day, especially during the
COVID-19 pandemic, which has changed
the face of her career.
As one of her patients was deteriorating
from the coronavirus, Galibova recalled
speaking to his mother over the phone
providing updates, but unfortunately, he
did not make it, she said.
“One of the hardest things was to speak
to his mom aft er he died. Th is was one
of the most diffi cult times when families
weren’t able to be at the patient’s bedside
and see what they’re going through,”
Galibova said.
As Galibova refl ects on the past year
that was fi lled with challenges, heartache
and lost lives, she remains hopeful that
that pandemic will be over one day.
“Everyday I come to work and I see
our census is dropping — we have 39 bed
units and 11 patients are in the ward,”
Galibova said. “It makes me feel so good
and hopeful that we are discharging them,
and educating them about proper hygiene
and making sure they go home with oxygen,
if needed.”
Like Galibova, John Hartin, a nurse at
Flushing Hospital for the past 34 and a
half years, expressed appreciation for his
team helping to save lives during the pandemic
that ravaged the borough.
“I was never sick, thank God. I still
think back and say to my coworkers, considering
what we worked through, we survived,”
Hartin said. “If it weren’t for teamwork,
we might not have been where we
are today.”
A Queens native, Hartin was born and
raised in Bellerose. He began working as a
nurses aide in the critical care unit (ICU)
at the former Deepdale Hospital in Little
Neck, before he attended Queensborough
Community College and obtained an
associates degree in nursing.
“Nursing has always been a great career
for me. Th ere are so many avenues you
can work in and I love it,” said Hartin,
whose wife and daughter are also medical
professionals. “I would never discourage
anyone from not going into it. If you like
taking care of people and meeting people,
that’s the way to go.”
Upon graduating from QCC, Hartin
continued working in the ICU taking on
Flushing Hospital’s critical care patients
— whether they came from the emergency
room or fl oor.
“We’ve seen it all the time, especially
with COVID. You can be talking to someone
at one minute, and the next minute
they are in a diff erent place, unstable,”
Hartin said. “People do well, and, sometimes,
they don’t do well.”
At the height of the pandemic, Hartin
and his team didn’t know what they were
dealing with, he said.
“A lot of the times we didn’t get breaks
— there was no leaving the bedside.
People were just so sick, and patient care
comes fi rst,” Hartin said.
According to Hartin, there are both
good and bad outcomes in the ER.While
caring for a coronavirus patient on a respirator,
Hartin held her hand, reassuring
her they will do everything they can.
“I came back a few days later and she
was gone,” Hartin said. “I took care of a lot
of COVID patients — both young and old
— holding hands and making eye contact,
and days later they’re gone. COVID was
sad and it was a very vulnerable disease,”
Hartin said.
Looking ahead, as people continue to
get vaccinated pushing back against the
virus, Hartin said people still need to be
smart and safe, especially if they’re going
through a crowded area.
“We were on the front lines, but you
also had the fi re department and police
department, everyone who came in contact
with the public and played a role,”
Hartin said. “Everyone was able to step up
and get where we are today.”
Oksana Galivova, clinical nurse manager, Med/Surg Unit Jamaica Hospital, and John Hartin, a nurse at Flushing Hospital.
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