In her first year on the job as a nurse, Julia Santucci 鈥�19 found herself in the trenches fighting the coronavirus pandemic. She鈥檚 faced the challenge in stride, as nurses do, with courage, dedication, and lots of heart.
Julia Santucci 鈥�19 spent her childhood at the beach, hanging out with her best friend, Jenna Carey 鈥�19, and, when she got older, teaching kids鈥攁nd adults alike鈥攖o surf. Back then, she couldn鈥檛 have known that someday she鈥檇 be on the front lines of a pandemic.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 grow up knowing I wanted to be a nurse,鈥欌�� she says. 鈥淏ut when I was in high school, my dad was in the hospital a lot. I saw what nurses did. I saw them save my dad鈥檚 life. I saw the huge difference they made for my family. The idea that I could do that for someone else was appealing.鈥�
For those who know her, it just makes sense that Santucci would make a career of caring for others. 鈥淲hen we were kids, she would always become friends with people who needed a friend,鈥� says Carey, who adds that in high school, Santucci would often make a point of sitting and talking with the kids who had special needs. 鈥淪he鈥檚 very caring; She thinks of everyone else before herself.鈥�
She鈥檚 also the kind of person who likes to learn and practice things until she gets them right. And nursing dovetailed perfectly with that quality.
鈥淪he had this quiet confidence about her,鈥� says her pediatric clinical instructor, Kate Saylor, M.S. 鈥�11. 鈥淪he wanted everything to be perfect and she wanted to make sure she was doing everything correctly.鈥�
The science of nursing fascinated Santucci, but when she started working with patients, she really fell in love. 鈥淚 enjoyed my science classes, but once we started clinicals and I actually got to be in the hospital, I loved it. I knew that was the environment I wanted to work in,鈥� she says.
She graduated from 911爆料 in May 2019, and in September, started as a nurse in the internal medicine unit at Rhode Island Hospital. She was nervous, but soon eased into the rhythms of hospital life.
鈥淭he hospital is its own self-sufficient little world,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e in there, the outside doesn鈥檛 really exist.鈥� Six months later, and the outside world breached the hospital walls in the form of the novel coronavirus. Santucci鈥檚 floor was the first to see the effects.
鈥淎s it got closer to the East Coast, we prepared, but it still seemed so far away,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hen, when it hit, our unit was the first to accept the positive patients. It鈥檚 unprecedented. We鈥檝e never dealt with something like this in our lifetime.鈥�
She鈥檚 tending to patients who鈥檝e contracted the highly contagious virus, but, she says 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 so nervous for my own health in the beginning. I was more afraid of giving it to someone else.鈥�
And Carey says that mentality perfectly defines Santucci. 鈥淪he puts other people before herself, realizes the importance of what she’s doing, and doesn’t take it lightly,鈥� says Carey. 鈥淪he does everything with her whole heart, she’s not scared of much, and she wants to help others in any way she can.鈥� 鈥�
鈥� Grace Kelly
Photo: Nora Lewis