9: Mary Frebel

Nurse

Mary is a married mother, who had one adult child living with her and her husband through the pandemic. That son relocated back to Berks County for work in February of 2020. The pandemic forced his stay with his parents much longer than expected. All three adults in the house worked through the entire shutdown. The son developed COVID but fortunately his parents did not.

The four medical locations that Mary oversees serve 25,000 patients. She can be asked to work any of the 24-hour shifts. Her main job focus is patient triage - sorting out well visits from sick visits, through both direct and in-direct patient care.

During the pandemic, all personnel, office or medical staff were in full PPE. The four office locations changed to accommodate only sick or well visits, not both in the same office. Even though patient scheduling became more of a challenge, care for all children continued without a shutdown or delay. 

One of her greatest rewards was additionally distributing vaccines to elderly on the weekends. She and her fellow co-workers did this on a volunteer basis and inoculated approximately 2500 elderly. After spending her days with children which she loves, these weekends gave her a renewed appreciation for…as she put it, “our amazing elderly community.”

Her wish for the future is to not return to the hustle and bustle of the past, but rather slow down more and enjoy the little things in life.