An 83-Year-Old EMT, A Nurse Forgoing Retirement: Heroes Of 2020

ACROSS AMERICA — At the end of every year, we at Patch like to take a look back at some of the most compelling people stories our reporters have told throughout the year.

During the unprecedented challenges in 2020, more heroes have emerged than ever.

Here’s a look at 20 of the best stories involving heroes from across the Patch network of more than 1,200 hyperlocal news communities.

Woman Gives Flowers To Strangers: Patricia Gallagher of Worcester, Pennsylvania, seeks out local florists for flowers that would otherwise go unused and finds the people who need them most.

"She doesn't boast," her friend, Colleen Gillies Peterson, told Patch. "She walks the walk rather than just talking the talk. And, to me, that is the most special thing one can do for the children and families in need."

Read more from Justin Heinze / Montgomeryville-Lansdale, PA Patch

2nd-Grader Gives 6,000 Masks, Caps To Hospital Staff: Seven-year-old Zohaib Begg hit the jackpot when he visited hotels in Ashburn, Virginia, to see if they had protective gear to donate to hospitals.

Read more from Mark Hand / Ashburn, VA Patch

Nurse Anesthesiologist Battles The Coronavirus Every Day: Cesar Jesus Visurraga, of Columbia, Maryland, told Patch that he has worked in the medical field for 16 years, eight of those as a captain in the U.S. Army. Now he manages a team of more than 26 nurse anesthesiologists who enter health care facilities to provide anesthesia services across the Tri-State region. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, he finds himself working more than 60 hours a week.

Read more from Kristin Danley-Greiner / Columbia, MD Patch

Hospital Worker Buys $10K Breathing System: Shari Hymes, a respiratory therapist at a Long Island hospital, purchased a $10,000 high-velocity nasal insufflation system. The device pushes oxygen into the lungs through the nose and doesn't require the patient to be intubated.

Read more from Lisa Finn / North Fork, NY Patch

83-Year-Old EMT Still Saving Lives Amid COVID-19 Pandemic: Bob Bliss, of Holmdel, New Jersey, has no plans to slow down “despite the significant risk to his health.”

Read more from Nicole Rosenthal / Holmdel-Hazlet, NJ Patch

‘Superman Of Nurses’ Helps Save Lives: Joe Gentile, a nurse at the St. Mary Medical Center in suburban Philadelphia, has been called the “Superman of nurses.”

“He helped save my life,” said Rico Rodriguez, a coronavirus patient of Gentile. “He went above and beyond to help me recover from this deadly virus, and I am forever grateful.”

Read more from Doug Gross / Levittown, PA Patch

Nurse Forgoes Retirement To Work On Hospital’s COVID-19 Floor: Ann Lubeski was set to retire after 40 years at Yale New Haven Hospital's Saint Raphael campus — but when the coronavirus pandemic hit, she stayed.

Her husband, Mark Lubeski, told Patch that "despite the pleas from her family that she has helped literally thousands of people in her 40-plus years and there was no shame in stepping away," she could not and did.

Read more from Ellyn Santiago / Branford, CT Patch

Retirement Home Employee Arranges Fire Truck To Lift Son To 2nd Floor So He Could See His Dying Mom: Sarah Petty, the admissions coordinator at the Laurel Circle Retirement Community in Bridgewater, New Jersey, came to the rescue to help Scott Wolf see his 94-year-old mother before she died at the height of the pandemic.

Petty was called a "hero" for her uplifting efforts to arrange for a fire truck to lift Wolf to the second floor to be able to see and say goodbye.

Read more from Alexis Tarrazi / Bridgewater, NJ Patch

Teen Organizes Virtual Events To Help Non-Profit Learning Center: To draw attention to Jubilee Jumpstart's GoFundMe campaign, Nina Parsee has gotten together a group of nine other area high school students, who will be hosting a week of virtual activities on the center's social media accounts for children to participate in and for potential donors to see.

Read more from Michael O’Connell / Arlington, VA Patch

Teen Brothers Help Feed Families Over Holiday Weekend: Brothers Caleb and Joshua Oh of Jessup, Maryland, were worried about kids in Maryland finding themselves hungry and without food during the Memorial Day weekend. The coronavirus pandemic has left some families without the means to obtain steady nourishment, so the pair stepped in to make a difference.

The Oh brothers are directors of Kid Changemakers, a nonprofit run by kids to serve kids. They were contacted by Helping Hands of America and teamed with the organization and Anne Arundel County Public Schools Office to hand out 450 meal packs to families from Jessup Elementary School.

Read more from Kristin Danley-Greiner, Odenton-Severn, MD Patch

No Time For ‘Terrified’ Chicago Nurses To Break Down: Patch spoke with two nurses who each spend at least 12 hours per shift working at major Chicago hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic.

"It's been harder than I ever thought or could have imagined," an ER nurse said.

Read more from Rebecca Hughes / Chicago Patch

Volunteers Provide More Than 5,700 Thanksgiving Meals: The Action Center, a human-service nonprofit, set off a wide-ranging effort to help those in need ahead of the holiday in Colorado.

Read more from Amber Fisher / Lakewood, CO Patch

Police Chief Retires 39 Years After Taking Bullet For Ronald Reagan: Tim McCarthy had a long career in law enforcement after jumping in front of the president during a 1981 assassination attempt.

Read more from Tim Moran / Orland Park, IL Patch

Maid Service Owner Keeps Staff Paid During Pandemic: Paula Garrison continued to pay her 22 employees and allow them to avoid unemployment, even as the northern Virginia business lost 50 percent of its clients when the pandemic started.

Read more from Emily Leayman / Kingstowne, VA Patch

Healthcare Worker Returns To Work After Battling Virus: Marcella Sowell-Hemingway is a front-line worker who spent 20 days recovering from the coronavirus, only to immediately return to work.

Read more from Justin Heinze / Norristown, PA Patch

A Look Back: 19 Illinois People To Remember From 2019