BOSTON — Four members of a Southborough family are nurses treating COVID-19 patients at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
“We actually all live within a five-minute radius of each other,” said Kristina Wickman.
She said she’s very close with her two sisters and parents. The three sisters had babies within a few months of each other last year. Two of those sisters are also nurses treating COVID-19 patients along with their mom and brother-in-law.
“It’s a family affair,” said Wickman.
The four of them spent Easter working at the hospital.
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“I think, in our case, our risk really quadruples just because the four of us are all with COVID patients,” said Rosemary Wickman, Kristina’s mother.
It’s not the quality family time they’d like to have as they all work nonstop during this pandemic.
“At times I work nights, so sometimes it’s in passing, so it is nice to see everyone even though we can’t really spend that much time together,” said Brad Robillard, Kristina’s brother-in-law, who also works as a nurse at Brigham and Women’s.
“You worry more about your family members than you do about yourself,” said Katie Wickman, Kristina’s sister, who’s also a nurse. “So I naturally worry about my brother-in-law, my sister, my mom and their extended families.”
They also worry about keeping their babies safe, and it’s not easy keeping them apart.
“For their whole lives they have basically seen each other every day,” Kristina Wickman said.
Wickman said they’re looking forward to reuniting after the pandemic is over, but in the meantime, they said it’s nice to rely on each other for support.
“Just as this is your first time, even though I’ve been here for almost 37 years – this is our first time too,” said Rosemary Wickman, a veteran nurse. “So it’s okay to be worried, it’s okay to be afraid because we’re all in this together.”
“I’m so grateful I have the support of these three to say, you can do it, we’re all in this together,” said Kristina Wickman. “That’s what we have to keep reminding ourselves about […] we’re so united as a family to be able to fight this.”