Meet your neighbors, Beaufort and Jasper Co. hospital workers on the coronavirus front line

They are mothers.

Daughters.

Wives.

Husbands.

Pet owners.

Beachgoers.

One is a grandfather.

They are your neighbors.

Now, in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, they are the people who are doing everything in their power to save you should you become infected.

They are among some 2,000 people working at Beaufort Memorial Hospital, Hilton Head Hospital and Coastal Carolina Hospital.

They are not immune to the coronavirus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported April 15 that 9,282 health care personnel have contracted COVID-19 across the country.

There were 275 confirmed cases of coronavirus among health care workers in the state as of April 3, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Their work puts their lives at risk as well as the lives of their loved ones.

But they still go to work everyday, quiet professionals who put others before themselves.

These are the stories of six of them.

Beth Holguin

Coastal Carolina Hospital Emergency Room Nurse

When Beth Holguin comes home from work, she sneaks into her house to hide from her 18-month-old daughter.

“I call before I pull into the driveway,” Holguin said. Her husband and daughter “go into another room because if she sees me, the game’s over.”

What toddler can resist hugging the mother she hasn’t seen all day?

The 28-year-old Holguin leaves the surgical scrubs she wears on shift at the hospital.

Once home in Ridgeland, she leaves her shoes in her car.

“I try to bring nothing inside with me,” she said.

Holguin and her husband, a veteran, used to spend all their time outdoors at parks, the beach and on nature trails.

“Whenever we did something — we did it as a family,”she said.

Now the family of three stays at home and thinks up new ways to pass their free time.

“We have tried to create our own environment for us to have fun,” Holguin said.

That includes creating a sprinkler system out of PVC pipes for daughter Ellie.

Still, the coronavirus is never far from her thoughts.

She understands the risk, to herself and her loved ones.

But she still wants to do her job.

She finds it rewarding to heal someone, to put the pieces of the medical puzzle together.

“To be able to help people in this time of need is gratifying,” Holguin said.

She also feels it is her duty to comfort others.

“I like to put myself in their shoes,” she said. “I try to give them answers to help them with maybe the most scary day of their life. I give them the treatment I hope others would do for my family.”

Like other nurses across the country, Holguin has talked to friends and family about COVID-19.

“I always like to give reference to the CDC,” she said. “I like to tell them how (the virus) is contracted from someone coughing or sneezing and that the virus can live on the surface for quite a long time.”

She encourages hand washing and social distancing.

“If you can stay home, you are protecting yourself, your family and the community,” Holguin said. “I hope we get through this and be strong together. I pray that we are all doing what we can do to put this in the past as quickly as we can.”

April Simmons-Smith

Beaufort Memorial Hospital Respiratory Unit Registered Nurse

April Simmons-Smith, 33, misses a lot of the same things we all do.

Going to the gym.

Seeing her nieces and nephews.

Hanging with friends.

The pandemic has changed all that and one thing more.

“It is very hard not being as hands on as we want to be,” Simmons-Smith said. “You don’t get to be as close to your patients.”

But the staff has been doing other little things to cheer patients up, such as talking to them over the phone.

Simmons-Smith lives in Ridgeland with her wife and three dogs.

She’s been using Zoom to keep in touch with her 14 nieces and nephews. She’s lectured them about hand washing.

Her mom has chronic respiratory issues. She’s talked to her about the seriousness of the coronavirus.

When she comes home from work, she washes her clothes and showers before seeing her wife.

“We’ve made sure that anything that I may come in contact with when I get home is cleaned down to make sure I don’t mistakenly bring anything home,” Simmons-Smith said.

Despite the pandemic, Simmons-Smith still loves going to work everyday.

“I want to make a difference, whether it is big or small,” Simmons-Smith said. “Especially when you are sick, you deserve kindness — someone who wants to help you get better.”

The pandemic gives her more of a reason to go to work, she said.

“Nurses are needed everywhere,” Simmons-Smith said.

Her hope is that the rest of the public also does what it can to prevent the spread.

“We want to make sure everyone does takes this as serious as it is,” Simmons-Smith said. “It is very dangerous. It is scary. It really is.”

Erica Hartzog

Coastal Carolina Emergency Room Nurse

Tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, garlic, green beans.

Erica Hartzog, 36, says there are almost too many types of plants growing in her Bluffton garden to list.

Gardening was Hartzog’s favorite hobby pre-coronavirus. It has remained so now.

“Spring is all about new life and beginnings,” she said. “Getting your hands in the soil and seeing what the seed produces is very rewarding.”

Such outdoor therapy may be needed now more than ever.

While some things are the same for the Coastal Carolina Hospital nurse, others parts of her life have changed dramatically.

For nearly a month, her two young children — a 2-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter — have been living with their grandparents.

“Of course, you miss your kids,” Hartzog said. But “I would much rather miss them then have them be ill.” And, she said, having her children in a safe place allows her to focus on “where I need to be at this time.”

While Hartzog says she’s talked openly with her children about the virus, it hasn’t become a source of anxiety.

They know to wash their hands, but they are also enjoying their time with grandparents.

“My daughter called and, without skipping a beat she said, ‘I’ve already had two ice creams,’” Hartzog said with a laugh.

The closeness she feels with her work colleagues helps.

The emergency room nurses at Coastal Carolina were a family before the pandemic, Hartzog said. She said the bond has only strengthened since the coronavirus took hold.

“We are in this together,” Hartzog said.

That bond includes their shared belief that they are called to work in healthcare.

“You have this skill and this want, and that is usually why we become nurses,” Hartzog said.

She thanked everyone who continues to social distance because it has helped the hospital do a better job.

“Those people in the public who are practicing social distancing have given us a chance to make a plan and make adjustments for what might be coming,” Hartzog said.

Gil Smith

Beaufort Memorial Hospital Respiratory Therapist

For the past 38 years, Gil Smith has had a single focus every day — helping people.

“If I can walk out 12 hours later knowing that I helped at least one person, I consider my day a success,” Smith, 61, said.

The father of three and grandfather of seven said that goal remains the same during the coronavirus pandemic.

“It makes me feel very good that those in healthcare are able to help the people who need our help,” he said.

Pre-coronavirus, Smith and his wife enjoyed taking their four dogs for a walk on the beach or going to the Port Royal Farmer’s Market.

Since coronavirus, they have been working on the yard of their Lady Island’s home. That includes cleaning out flower beds in hopes they can plant a vegetable garden soon.

As a respiratory therapist, Smith works with patients who have trouble breathing. The patient could be having trouble for a multitude of reasons, including lung or heart disease, asthma or a virus.

He’s tried to explain the seriousness of COVID-19 to his family in layman’s terms and encouraged loved ones to avoid the public even for things like grocery shopping. He’s suggested delivery options as an alternative.

Smith takes extra steps when returning home to his wife, who has a weakened immune system from multiple sclerosis.

He’s created about a 45-minute routine in an attempt to limit his wife’s exposure.

“I call her and tell her I’m on my way home,” Smith said. “She opens the garage.”

He walks into the garage and immediately puts his clothes in the washing machine. He then takes a shower before ever seeing her.

“I definitely don’t want to bring the virus home to her,” Smith said. “The virus is something nobody wants to mess with.”

Smith knows the risk but still loves his job.

A work-related injury in the 1980s forced Smith to retrain in a new field. He say’s he’s been hooked on healing ever since.

The current risk will be less if everyone follows recommendations from S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster and social distancing, Smith said.

“Don’t congregate with a bunch of people, and stay home as much as you can,” Smith said, “and enjoy the time you have with your family.”

Nikki Viskovich

Beaufort Memorial Intensive Care Unit Nurse

Nikki Viskovich of Bluffton and her fellow nurses in the intensive care unit are there for coronavirus patients when family can’t be.

They see themselves as a go-between.

“I am there to hold their hand or whatever they need,” Viskovich, 30, said.

The nurses help patients Facetime with loved ones or hold a phone to their ears.

“Regardless of if they are aware or not — we are keeping them in touch,” Viskovich said.

Passion and integrity are important parts of the job, she said.

“As hard as it is emotionally and physically — this is what I’m meant to do,” Viskovich said.

Viskovich said she works hands on with COVID-19 patients and, while she does her best to avoid getting infected, knows that’s always a possibility.

She keeps her phone in a plastic bag, and an extra pair of shoes at work.

After taking a shower and washing clothes, she decontaminates everything.

She knows even if she has no symptoms, she could still have the virus.

She’s been diligent about not seeing her parents, who also live in Bluffton, since the pandemic started. Easter was difficult, she said.

“My dad had his knee done right before this, and I told him, ‘I love you but I’ll see you in a few months,’” Viskovich said.

Her usual ways of spending her time off have been altered by the pandemic.

She hasn’t been able to enjoy the beach or boating or going to restaurants with friends.

Instead, she spends time with her fiance and her two cats at home.

“We exercise outside, doing more walking or running, and we started a little garden out back,” Viskovich said.

She understands social distancing is difficult, but she also knows it is needed.

“It is one of the hardest things that we have ever had to do or go through as a society,” Viskovich said. “I do appreciate people staying at home because I don’t want them or their family members in here.”

Tiffany Burnett

Hilton Head Hospital Emergency Room Registered Nurse

Tiffany Burnett’s 7-year-old son hears about the coronavirus on television.

He overhears her dad, who lives with them, talk about it.

He knows he isn’t in school.

He knows mom works at the hospital.

“He misses school and he misses his friends,” Burnett said.

He also remembers having the flu last season.

“He doesn’t want to make anyone else feel that way,” Burnett, 36, said.

The family used to spend their time at the beach and pool, but they’ve switched to at-home activities.

“We play in the backyard,” Burnett said. “We have a slip-and-slide and blow-up pool. We are just trying to spend time with family.”

Burnett’s dad is retired and is able to watch her son while she works.

She is meticulous in cleaning her clothes and taking a shower when she returns to her Bluffton home.

“I am fearful, of course — it is a novel disease,” Burnett said. “But our doctors are adequate in their education.”

Every nurse knows the risk when they go into the field, Burnett said.

“Part of the reason they take this job is to help others,” she said. “We do this job because we love it and we have a calling for it.”

Thankfully, the Hilton Head and Bluffton area haven’t seen the number of cases as some places in the nation have, Burnett said.

She encouraged everyone to maintain social distancing to keep from spreading the virus.

“We need to save everyone,” Burnett said.

“Not just ourselves.”

This story was originally published April 26, 2020 at 7:00 AM.