Oceanside Nurse 'Couldn't Say No' To Joining Ticker Tape Parade

OCEANSIDE, NY — It was a day Mayor Bill DeBlasio envisioned more than a year ago. A ticker-tape parade down the vaunted Canyon of Heroes, but this time the streets of Broadway weren't filled with sports heroes.

On Wednesday, the heroes were frontline health care workers heroes, honored for putting their lives on the line to protect so many people with COVID-19.

Mariana Peredo is a registered nurse, who was among three staffers (Michael Watson/mechanic, and Hamera Bhutta/physician's assistant) selected to represent Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital in the parade.

"It was such an emotional experience," Peredo said. "I didn't expect it to be. It was really heartwarming to see all the people that came out."

Peredo is a floating nurse, who covers various floors and wards as warranted each day. During the worst of the pandemic that meant treating COVID-19 patients on ventilators. She also helped create new COVID-19 units where she would oversee a floor with at least 30 patients.

"It was a matter of stepping up and doing what we had to do," she said. "It kind of just put into play all the skills that we already have as nurses. We had to move a little faster and work a little harder."

Despite the training, Peredo never expected to deal with a pandemic as a nurse and was less prepared for the parade in lower Manhattan.

"I never thought that I would do anything like this," Peredo said. "When they told me, 'You could have the opportunity to do it,' of course, I couldn't say no. I had to be there. It felt so special."