Heroes of 2020: On Staten Island’s Hospice Team, No One Works Alone

As hospice nurses, social workers, spiritual care counselors, nurse practitioners and medical doctors signed on to an interdisciplinary group conference call for VNSNY’s Staten Island Hospice team in mid-March, the mood was upbeat and chatty. If you listened closely, however, you could hear that the clinicians’ voices were a little frayed around the edges. They—like everyone at VNSNY these days—have been working long, exhausting hours as the COVID-19 pandemic makes an indelible mark on the lives of New Yorkers and the world. But tired as each participant on the call might have been, one thing was clearly in focus for every person dialing in: We’re all in this together.

Dr. Zoya Koroleva, VNSNY Hospice physician in Staten Island.

Take Dr. Zoya Koroleva, physician for the Staten Island Hospice team. “No matter what we need, she’s always there for us, and we know it,” says Kathleen Sarnes, a nurse on the Staten Island team whose unique way of fostering inner calm by singing to her patients got her featured recently on the Today Show. Dr. Koroleva has a long history of going the extra mile for New Yorkers. When Far Rockaway, Queens was brought to a standstill after Superstorm Sandy, she started her own urgent care practice in that community to bridge gaps in care that were left in the storm’s shattering wake.

Today, as COVID-19 testing finally becomes available throughout the New York area, Dr. Koroleva has once again dedicated herself to serving the community’s needs. From 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. each day, she provides on-call service to VNSNY’s Staten Island Hospice Team, writing prescriptions and consulting by phone with nurses in the field. Then, at 2:00, she drives to her urgent care center in Far Rockaway, where she suits up with scrubs, gloves, mask and goggles and begins testing an average of 15 to 25 patients daily for COVID-15. “Almost everyone tests positive, Dr. Koroleva says. “This virus is like nothing we’ve ever seen before, and everyone who comes in is very sick.”

At day’s end, she removes her PPE and puts it in a plastic bag, then sanitizes it all in her washing machine when she gets back home to Staten Island where she’s now living alone—her children, husband and elderly father are all in the family cottage in Pennsylvania, away from New York’s epicenter of the disease. “Dr. Koroleva and the other doctors who give orders and consult with VNSNY Hospice staff in the field are critical members of the team,” says Kathleen. “She is amazing, and always picks up right away when we reach out to her in the morning. She’s got our backs and we know it—and when she’s helping others, we’ve got hers. She’s a real hero in my book.”

In addition to Dr. Koroleva, this got-your-back Staten Island Hospice team is supported by nurse practitioners like Tina Lesevic, Clinical Specialist, who writes prescriptions, consults with the team’s nurses and sees patients in their homes. On March 29th, Tina proudly celebrated 20 years as a nurse. She’s worked in a variety of settings, including hospital ICU units. In addition to her caseload with VNSNY Hospice, she began volunteering this week at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn as part of Governor Cuomo’s call for healthcare volunteers. “This pandemic is really a battle,” she says. “We need to use all of our skills to help the people we are caring for, and to keep ourselves safe. We can’t do it alone—we are all fighting together.”

Another key member of the Staten Island Hospice team, Anne Walsh, a nurse practitioner and wound ostomy continence nurse, is available in a flash when her expertise is needed. “I’ll send her a smartphone photo of a wound, maybe with my recommendation for care, and right away she’ll respond,” says Kathleen. “It’s teamwork like this every day, but especially now, as we are all coping with the stresses and concerns related to this COVID-19 crisis.”

On right, VNSNY’s Spiritual Care Counselor Rabbi Yair Fine with a patient.

Rabbi Yair Fine, one of the team’s Spiritual Care Counselors, and Jennifer Goldstein, a VNSNY Hospice social worker in Staten Island, both know the healing power of giving to others as well. Whether it’s listening to memories of a life well lived, or presenting bialys that evoke a favorite neighborhood gathering place—these small tokens of kindness are examples of how Rabbi Fine and Jennifer give comfort with grace, as they honor the life of one of the team’s patients who is coping with the loneliness of COVID-19 social isolation.

Tina Lesevic, Nurse Practitioner, modeling one of the colorful masks made by Wicked Stitches.

VNSNY’s Staten Island Hospice team works just as hard to support their communities in their off hours as they do on the front lines. During the COVID-19 crisis, the staff of Wicked Stitches, a Staten Island embroidery shop, were so impressed with the team’s efforts that they made colorful masks and hats for them to wear over their personal protective equipment.

“All of us on the VNSNY Staten Island Hospice team really understand one another, and we know our team is there no matter what,” Tina says. “We understand that the job we are doing in this pandemic is difficult, but in hospice, we’re used to that. Our job is difficult every day—that’s just the way hospice is. It’s what brings us together. No one works alone. We don’t separate by title—everyone feels that they have a voice.”

To view more Heroes of 2020 stories, click here.