This week’s Homegrown Hero is Amy Emmarco, MCS Clinical Resource Nurse at NYU Langone. This past week we caught up with her to know more about her story, and what she has experienced since the pandemic started. We thank Amy for all her efforts and for inspiring our club with her acts.
Tell me about your career and what inspires you every day?
I have been working as an RN at NYU Langone for the past 12 years. I started out working on the cardiothoracic postoperative unit, and then when I got my master’s degree I joined the Advanced Heart Failure/LVAD (Left Ventricular Assist Device) Team. I work with advanced heart failure patients who require LVAD devices (heart pump). I am involved in the care and management of these patients and do patient, family and staff education. My patients inspire me daily as they are so strong and resilient. I also am incredibly inspired by the team I work with, I am blessed to work with individuals who always treat our patients like family and provide the best individualized care and are super supportive.
How much have your job duties changed since the pandemic started?
During the pandemic, my primary role continued but I specifically had to make adjustments to ensure patient safety. This involved creating innovative ways to provide virtual LVAD education. Changes included assisting with educating nursing staff on a complex life-saving intervention called ECMO (extracoporeal membrane oxygenation) that my institution utilized for very critical Covid-19 patients. I also helped with home blood draws for our heart transplant patients who are at higher risk for infection and could not leave to go to the lab.
What’s the biggest lesson/s you’ve learned during this time period?
I think the biggest lesson I have learned is how grateful I am to work with such a dedicated and strong team. The nurses and other healthcare professionals at my institution are simply incredible and while I always valued them, my overall admiration truly escalated during the height of the pandemic. I also am blessed to have the most wonderful family, especially my husband Hyron who nominated me and my beautiful sisters Mary and Ruth. Their love and support has always been unconditional, and I’m so lucky to have them.
