Moon Township, Pa. – Emily Engle-Young had dabbled in keeping a journal before, but her entries recently have carried a little more weight.
Engle-Young, a 2017 graduate of
Robert Morris University with a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing as well as a former student-athlete on the rowing team, has spent the last month and-a-half as a registered nurse at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center in New York, N.Y.
Three years into a career as a nurse at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pa., Engle-Young decided to make a change through Trusted, a traveling nurse company. She and a fellow nurse from Pittsburgh, Elizabeth Narkevic, made the move to New York to join the fight on the frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"I had been thinking about becoming a traveling nurse to see different areas of the country," Engle-Young, a native of Holbrook, Pa., in Greene County, said. "This was an opportunity to go where there was a crisis. Elizabeth and I both started around the same time. Going in was crazy, as it was around peak admissions. Most of the patients were already intubated and were crammed in every corner of the hospital."
Dr. Andrew Thomas, a hand-wrist specialist with Summit Orthopedics in Minnesota who attended medical school at Columbia, also came to New York to help on the frontlines. It was his suggestion to the nurses to begin keeping a journal of patients they were caring for, taking notes of something personal about them that they could pass along to families.
"You do a lot of FaceTime as the families call in for updates," Engle-Young said. "You bring an IPad into the room so the family can see the patient if they are alert, but the journal aspect gets more into how you're thinking at the time and in the moment. I think it's therapeutic not only for you, but the family of the patient, as well."
Engle-Young's diligence with her journal was a key point in helping her assist Ira Glass, the host and producer of the radio and television series This American life as well as other NPR programs, research a piece,
One Last Thing Before I Go, that featured Dr. Thomas.
"I talked with Ira on the phone while I sat in my car outside my apartment," Engle-Young. "We had a great talk, and honestly I was shaking. Dr. Thomas was great at connecting us with the families of a patient that had passed if they wanted to gain closure by talking with the people who were with them."
Engle-Young spent four years as a member of the rowing team with the Colonials, serving as team captain while being named MVP during her senior season, and she can draw parallels to her time as a student-athlete that has helped her in the beginning stages of her career as a nurse.
"Rowing was interesting, because it was a sport I didn't have any experience with before I came to Robert Morris," Engle-Young said. "A lot of us are learning together and it was a good team to be a part of. There were a few nursing majors that were part of the team when I was there, and it was nice to have a few teammates that were going through the same thing as you in trying to balance rowing with studying. Overall, though, it was great to have teammates that always had your back."
While the 12-hour shifts have added up for Engle-Young during her time as a nurse, she looks back at her time at RMU as an important step in her growth as an individual.
"I don't know if anyone is trained for a situation like this, but Robert Morris provided me a great foundation to be able to be hired immediately in an ICU setting," Engle-Young said. "Being able to have three years in the ICU has helped me to be more knowledgeable and gave me confidence to move to a new hospital in a different city."
The traveling may very well continue, too. Engle-Young hopes once her time in New York is complete to move to other areas of the country through Trusted, and the possibility of continuing her education is also in the forefront of her mind.
"I'm hoping to go to Seattle next," Engle-Young said. "I was there once before and the landscape is so beautiful. You have a beautiful city surrounded by nature. When it comes to nursing, everyone always says they like to help and take care of people, but the critical thinking and fast-paced atmosphere is something that I thrive in, regardless of where I'm at."
Wherever Engle-Young goes, the journal won't be far out of reach.
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