Carolyn Haskell kept hearing about the need for medical
professionals in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
As a 23-year veteran military nurse and former infection
control specialist, the semi-retired CRNP and RN understood why the military
and hospitals in other states were asking her if she’d return to work. As the
personal shopper for her 89-year-old father and her special needs aunt, Carolyn
wanted to help but also needed to stay close to her Lebanon County home.
That’s when she decided to reach out to a supervisor at
WellSpan’s Philhaven, a nonprofit behavioral healthcare organization. “I knew I
wanted to go back,” Carolyn says. “I emailed my supervisor and was at work the
next day.”
Back to work
Carolyn started with Philhaven in 2010, working for about
six years, first as an occupational health nurse and safety officer and
eventually overseeing infection prevention, food service, and housekeeping. She
traveled throughout Lancaster, York, and other areas to visit the various
Philhaven locations.
When she retired, she remained on staff to help as needed
with special projects but filled most of her time with volunteering with
organizations including Habitat for Humanity, United Way of Lebanon County, the
Lebanon Community Library, and Lebanon County Christian Ministries.
But as the virus spread in the region, each of those
entities asked volunteers to stay at home. Not long after, Carolyn got bored
reading books, doing puzzles, and “drinking way too much coffee.”
Carolyn’s sister, who works in incident command at
WellSpan’s York Hospital and Good Samaritan, told her about the need for more
nurses.
On the job
Since late March, Carolyn has been helping with employee
screenings and training, as well as writing workflow procedures, especially
related to infection control. She’s also tried to be a sounding board for the
other nurses and the person managing infection prevention.
“With WellSpan, we have resources beyond our facility, so
we’ve never felt like we’re alone in this,” Carolyn says. “We know these are
unique situations, but we have the experts in the system who support us, and
it’s a great team.”
Carolyn also chooses to wake up each day thanking God for
another opportunity to do something positive.
“I’m blessed with good health and financial stability,
and I feel like I should be out helping people who may not have those same
blessings,” she says. “I’m not the person to sit at home all day. As long as
they find me helpful, I’ll be there.”