COLORADO, USA — Healthcare workers on the front lines of fighting COVID-19 have been hailed as heroes over the past year. But doctors and nurses are not the only people caring for sick patients.
Maria Saavedra a Food Service Technician at UCHealth delivers the food made in the kitchen to hundreds of patients in their rooms every day.
Without her and her team, patients wouldn’t eat.
"I enjoy people in general. I like talking to people, I like getting to know people," Saavedra said. "I think toward the beginning some people were scared to come to work. I was here every day. I started asking if I could pick up extra shifts. Those days were long, but it was worth it."
Saavedra started her job just before the pandemic started. When the virus began to spread, she sent her son away to live with his grandparents while she worked double shifts at the hospital.
"He went to stay with them just because we all knew that it was going to be tricky being in a hospital," Saavedra said. "We didn’t know if I was going to get sick and I didn’t want to get him sick."
Some healthcare providers like Bennett Lewis, 20, clean the operating rooms at the hospital. He’s part of a school to work transition program called Project Search.
For the entirety of the pandemic, Bennett has donned his PPE and charged onto the frontlines of fighting the virus.
"When he had to clean his first COVID room, Bennett wasn’t scared or anything. He came home and he bragged about it," said Megan Quinn, Bennett's job coach. "They have to wipe down all the equipment that’s used. They have to wipe down all the lights that are on the ceiling."
These are just two of countless healthcare workers fighting the virus behind the scenes, all working to treat the sick and keep the rest of us healthy.
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