Brianna Cloutier

As the number of new infections with the new COVID-19 variants and hospitalizations continue to rise, frontline workers and healthcare workers across the globe are being pushed to a further breaking point. While coping with the stress and anxiety of working during the pandemic is a struggle, the struggle is also real for nursing students who are just getting their first-hand experience and barely getting their feet wet.  

Brianna Cloutier of Charlton - A practical nursing student at Bay Path Practical Nursing Academy, Brianna Cloutier is experienced in healthcare. Her resume boasts of previously working as a Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (Reliant Medical Group General Vascular Surgery), Developmental Specialist (Venture Community Specialist), and as a Certified Nursing Assistant (Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing). Since starting her nursing journey she has been learning about COVID 19, preventing the spread, and staying safe and healthy. She completed the COVID-19 Contact Tracing through Coursera at the Johns Hopkins University. Working on term two courses, which includes the challenging medical-surgical nursing, she has been channeling her experiences on the front line into the magic of scrapbooking and crafts. She is also actively participating in projects such as the diversity and inclusion for PN Class of 2021 having been picked as the liaison for Walmart’s giving grant. She recently completed two days of clinical observation at the Wound Clinic and is in awe at the nurses involved with hyperbaric wound therapy.  

Cayla Jill Bueno of Quezon City, Philippines - Thousands of miles away, Cayla Jill Bueno is going through a similar situation. As a first-year nursing student at the Far Eastern University Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation, Cayla Jill Bueno has seen her share of pain and suffering but mainly through the news and social media. When hospitals were running out of capacity and healthcare workers were running out of personal protective equipment, Bueno felt helpless. Across the globe she witnessed her grandmother, Estrella Ramos in New York make fabric masks for the community, Bueno was inspired. Her grandmother’s act of kindness impacted her. Her aunts and uncles in the healthcare field working in the frontlines in Boston, New York, New Jersey, Texas, and California as nurses, physical therapist, activities assistant, dialysis technicians, and even caregivers. Closer to home her first cousin, a Filipino-Japanese is also a nurse at Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, Japan.   

That is why she started using her digital art skills to channel her emotions during the ongoing crisis. Bueno creates anime fan art stickers. Her website is called creativejuice_ on Shopee. To date she has 92 followers who imagine while Bueno draws. Her site boasts of 15 products. She has an ongoing sticker project commissioned for the Bay Path Practical Nursing Academy students in Charlton.

Isabella Boateng of Manchester, CT - Isabella Boateng is a practical nursing student at Bay Path Practical Nursing Academy. As a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) she spends her days caring for her patients and maintaining their safety from COVID-19 and its complications. Working at All Ways There Home Care, which is at Vernon, CT she has been channeling her experiences on the front line into the culinary arts. She proudly states that her medium is cooking. 

Her dishes have brought love, hope and faith to her family and close friends. As one of the student representatives for the PN Class of 2021, she helps spread the message for prevention:  mask, physical distancing, and handwashing. As a UNICEF Club officer, she helps plan and hold food related fundraising activities to support projects for children’s advocacy. Boateng has been called an “angel on earth” by a former patient. For her, honoring her heritage with the dishes she cooks and being at the bedside, caring for her patients is sacred.  

Brianna Laforest of Webster - Creating art is a way for healthcare providers to remember and capture their experiences on the front line. Being creative and making art helps Brianna Laforest cope. She does so one flower at a time by making gorgeous flower arrangements and spreading cheer along the way. Blooms have always had uplifting effects. The pandemic, chronic stress, and depression can contribute to negative health outcomes such as poor cardiovascular health. Laforest have young children and she hopes they can look back and say their mom worked during the pandemic and she did a great job. Work is exciting for Laforest as the nursing administrative coordinator at UMass Memorial Medical Center. As a practical nursing student, she reports to Harrington Hospital for her medical-surgical nursing rotation. She maintains a busy household, a challenging job, and a full plate as a practical nursing student. She can manage it all. Future generations can look back and learn more about how she balanced it all and what it was like to live through the pandemic.