CULVER CITY, Calif. – Dedication, purpose, and pride are just some of the words that can be used to describe health care workers in Culver City.
Not all superheroes wear capes. Kendra Reynolds is an infection-control nurse and Director of Staff Development at the Country Villa South Convalescent Center in Culver City.
“I get home, I enter through the back door, take a shower, go straight out the front door to pick up my kids from the babysitter across the street,” said Reynolds.
Changing out of her personal protective equipment is just a daily routine. The 36-year-old mother of three boys left her previous job to help out Country Villa South as the center pivoted to become California’s first entirely COVID-19 rehab facility.
They accept COVID-19 patients from overcrowded hospitals who have acute symptoms or are asymptomatic, and can’t go back to nursing facilities until they are cleared of the coronavirus.
Born in Belize and raised in L.A., Reynolds currently works with her dad. Both her parents are also nurses, and fell ill to COVID-19.
“I remember crying in the shower on day, night two, when I got home because my dad he was so sick, and I’ve never seen him that sick before,” said Reynolds.
On top of worrying about her sick parents, Reynolds also ended up getting COVID-19. She had mild symptoms, including tiredness and not having a sense of smell. Reynolds said she wasn’t scared when she had it but was scared for her parents who are in their 60s. Now they have both recovered and are back at work in the hospitals.
Reynolds said it was the encouragement of the staff that fueled her drive to keep going.
“There was a lot of heroic staff that didn’t turn their back, or didn’t come and say, 'Oh there is COVID I don’t want to work there.' They actually ran to us when they found out,” said Reynolds.
When some of the management team got sick, to help keep their spirits up, Reynolds started creating fun videos for them. The sense of pride and camaraderie in this nursing community can be felt throughout Country Villa, and the surrounding community is forever grateful.