Emotional Vigil For Beloved Alta Bates Nurse Who Died Of COVID-19
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Dozens of friends, family members and colleagues of Janine Paiste-Ponder held up their cellphones, many containing her photo, during an emotional ceremony for the beloved registered nurse at Sutter Alta Bates Summit Medical Center who died recently because of COVID-19 infection.
Many also held up large photos of Paiste-Ponder, who passed away on Friday, days after she and another nurse, Toya Randle, in her unit tested positive for the virus.
"Janine was an exceptional nurse," Randle said in a news release. "She was funny, she always helped. She was our friend, she was our sister, she was our coworker. And I can't believe she is gone."
Randle called on hospital officials to do more to protect its employees. She and Paiste-Ponder worked in the medical/surgical unit, where nurses were sometimes assigned five patients at once, including positive and non-positive patients.
She said she was exposed to a known positive patient, but not tested until she lost her sense of smell and taste. Randle tested positive on Wednesday, July 15.
"I just want Summit to know that they lost an amazing nurse," Randle said. "She was a loving wife, a loving mother."
California Nurses Association Executive Director Bonnie Castillo added --"Janine signed up to care for her patients at Summit, she did not sign up to sacrifice her life."
In a response to local media, Summit officials said: "When caring for suspected or known COVID-19 positive patients, staff are supplied with new N-95 masks along with other appropriate PPE. Our supply is adequate to meet demand at this time."