Included in the incredible stories of the Western New York community coming together during the Blizzard of 2022 are the efforts of those on the frontlines are our local hospitals.
That includes those at Mercy Hospital in South Buffalo where the leadership and staff came together to push through the challenges of the generational storm and continue to provide a high level of care.
"I think it was probably the most impressive storm we've seen," said Michelle Wild, director of nursing at the hospital.
As the blizzard rolled in, the staff at the hospital knew they would have to rise to the occasion.
"We knew there was going to be a lot of leaders we'd need to depend on and a lot of staff to potentially give up time with their families to be here to care for the patients," said Wild.
Wild said that as the snow piled up, many couldn't physically get to the hospital meaning long demanding days for those already on site.
"People were here up to five days," said Wild. "Some of the shifts it depended on what it was, if it was critical care or the emergency department, the rotations went differently. Some nurses, some ancillary staff, were working 16 hours."
Jaclyn Meyer, the nurse manager for the Cardiovascular ICU, said her team rallied together in the face of the storm.
"We had nurse practitioners turning and bathing and doing everything that could do to make sure that our patients were comfortable during these extreme circumstances," said Meyer.
But, it wasn't always easy.
"Morale was a problem," said Aaron Menczynski, a registered nurse in the CVICU. "Because we all have families, some of us young families, we wanted to be home, the holiday coming didn't really help."
Menczynski said his coworkers got creative to not only take care of patients but also each other.
"One of my coworkers had very generously gone up and bought everybody a Christmas present and put it under our unit Christmas tree and we all thought that was like a nice touch," said Menczynski.
Lean Quarantello, a clinical specialist in the CVICU, tried to comfort her team by making soup.
"I brought my Instapot, so we made a couple of batches of friendship soup," said Quarantello. "We ended up here, we happened to have the food to do it, we made it together, we ate it as a family in the break room, it just felt right."
Short breaks from patients to watch a Buffalo Bills victory on Christmas Eve also raised spirits. As did the efforts of the hospital's dietary team that still found a way to feed 600 staff members and more than 300 patients three times a day during the storm.
"No one complained about the task at hand, everyone knew what we had to do," said Michael Galbraith, food service director. "It was really heartwarming."
A heartwarming effort to keep patients safe during the storm of a generation.
"I don't know what to tell you, but we're nurses, that's sort of just part of the job, that's what we do," said Menczynski.
"We just take care of people, it's Buffalo, right? The city of good neighbors, that's what this hospital is for this community," said Quarantello.
