University of Connecticut Athletics
Field Hockey Alumni Fighting COVID-19 as Medical Workers
4/16/2020 12:14:00 PM | Field Hockey
by Danny Barletta
UConn field hockey players, like all college athletes, leave it all out on the field in competition. They work extremely hard and dedicate four or five years of their lives to the sport. But where do they go after leaving UConn?
Well, multiple field hockey alumni are in the medical field now, battling an opponent far more fierce than any they ever faced on the field. Nikki Harmony Hughson, Ashley Rich and Kim Krzyk are three of these alumni who are working tirelessly through this coronavirus pandemic, which has affected each of them differently.
Hughson, an emergency room trauma nurse at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, is truly on the front lines of the pandemic.
"I think as emergency room nurses we are used to thinking quick and not always being able to control certain situations," Hughson said. "This is the same on a much larger scale. We've all adapted along with our incredible leadership in the emergency department to prepare ourselves the best we can."
For ER nurses, things are always crazy, but now even more so. Hughson said that the biggest change is all the new protective gear she is wearing. This gear creates a physical but also figurative barrier with her patients that has made her job more difficult.
"The hardest part for me thus far has been feeling uncomfortable and disconnected from my patients," Hughson said. "The additional precautions, personal protective gear and worry throughout the hospital makes it much harder to feel connected to our patients and comfort them during these difficult times while still keeping ourselves, our coworkers and families safe."
Some might say that being a nurse is an unfortunate job to have right now, but Hughson certainly doesn't feel that way.
"I am incredibly proud to be a part of this amazing team of healthcare providers in Boston," Hughson said. "I am proud to tell my children and my husband I'm going to work to fight this awful virus that's keeping them from their friends and school, and I am thankful that I can do that. That's how I get through each shift."
Hughson graduated from UConn in 2008 and was a part of the field hockey team for five seasons as a forward. She said she feels that the field hockey program gave her the tools she needs to succeed in her role as a nurse.
"UConn field hockey along with Coach Nancy [Stevens], Paul [Caddy], Cheri [Schulz] and my teammates has helped shape me into the person I am today in so many ways," Hughson said. "UConn field hockey is an incredibly successful and competitive program and Brigham and Women's Hospital is a world renowned hospital. My work ethic and determination to be the best I can and to be the best I can for my coworkers and patients has stemmed from the five years I spent at UConn as a Husky."
Rich is also a nurse, but her experience has been different in the neonatal intensive care unit of Yale New Haven Hospital. She isn't dealing with COVID-19 directly but rather trying to keep her newborn patients from getting sick.
"Currently the NICU is probably the safest unit in the entire hospital so I feel both thankful and a little guilty," Rich said. "I wish there was more that I could be doing but I also know how important it is for me and my colleagues to keep these babies safe. They're an incredibly vulnerable population and it's thanks to our management, medical team and unit staff that we've been able to protect them and maintain the health of the unit thus far."
Rich said they are taking extra precautions like wearing masks and obsessively cleaning, but the most difficult precaution in the NICU is limiting visitors.
"One challenge I'm facing in the wake of this crisis is having to tell parents that they can't see their own child," Rich said. "We have very strict guidelines in place to prevent the coming and going of people into the unit and oftentimes it means that a parent can only spend time with their baby once a week. It's heartbreaking but we all know it's for the best and that's what I try to remind the parents."
Rich graduated from UConn just last year after playing four seasons of field hockey as a defender and winning a National Championship in 2017. Her biggest takeaway from field hockey into nursing was the importance of teamwork.
"Nursing is as much a team effort as field hockey is," Rich said. "We provide the best care for our patients and make the greatest impact when we put our heads, our hands and our hearts together. The same was always true of winning a match. Being a member of UConn field hockey, working alongside my team to achieve greatness, has shaped me into someone who is selfless, goal-oriented, and brave."
Right now, it is more important than ever to be all of those things.
Finally, Krzyk is a pediatric resident physician at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in New Jersey. Like Rich, she is also in more of a precautionary role, and she feels those medical workers treating the sick deserve the most credit.
"Luckily our pediatric population has not been as severely impacted or affected during this time as our adult population," Krzyk said. "As a whole, our department has such gratitude and respect for all of our colleagues taking care of those affected most by this virus. They are the ones who really deserve the recognition and appreciation for all of their efforts."
But Krzyk's job has still been affected by the virus even without having to treat sick patients.
"As with most of healthcare, pediatrics is suffering from not being able to provide thorough outpatient services," Krzyk said. "Losing quality interactions with our patients has been the hardest part during all of this, especially for those who really depend on us regularly."
Krzyk played five years of field hockey at UConn as a left back and graduated in 2012. Like her fellow alumni, she credits her experiences at UConn for where she is today.
"I have always attributed any of my successes in medicine part to playing field hockey at UConn," Krzyk said. "Medical School has been one of the hardest accomplishments in my life, and I don't think I would have been able to get through it without all of the skills, mindsets and determination that UConn field hockey and athletics had taught me … In a lot of ways playing in a NCAA tournament game is comparable to handling a busy, non-stop work day as a resident and I am grateful for my experiences at UConn to help me succeed in my career."
Each of these amazing women is doing her part to help battle this horrible virus and get the country back to normal as soon as possible. As with all medical workers and essential employees, we thank them greatly for their service to society. Head coach Nancy Stevens applauded her former players for the work they are doing now.
"As proud as we were of their stellar athletic and academic accomplishments as UConn Huskies, we are even more proud of their service in the health care professions during those unprecedented times," she said.
