Local Florida nurses step out of retirement and into a global pandemic to provide life-saving vaccines

When Joan Thomas got the chance to volunteer to help in the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, she didn’t hesitate, though she is 79 and had been retired from a career as a registered nurse for nine years. 

Across Florida, many retired nurses, retired doctors and other health-care professionals have put aside hobbies and favorite retirement pastimes to suit up in personal protective equipment and get back into the trenches in one of global health care’s biggest battles in a century. 

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Thomas was eager to end the illness, suffering, and death caused by coronavirus. But most of all, she was determined to do her part to end the damaging isolation the pandemic has inflicted on literally billions of people worldwide.

“It’s just been so all-consuming and overwhelming,” said Thomas, who worked as a pediatric nurse at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare for 30 years. “We are all so alone. Especially for older people, that connection to family and friends is the most important thing. And we’ve lost that. For so long, we couldn’t communicate, we couldn’t be together. We couldn’t hug each other.”

For many retired nurses who’ve volunteered, it’s about protecting the entire community. 

“When I give people the shot, a lot of them say, ‘Thank you so much’,” said Marilyn Peare, 77, a retired nurse from Miami. “And I say, ‘No, thank you. It’s not just about you getting the vaccine, it’s also about you doing your part to make our community safer.’”

Retired nurses and other health-care professionals have taken on a variety of roles in vaccination efforts across Florida’s 67 counties. The scope of volunteer nurses’ engagement varies widely by county – and also by nurses’ own interests and whether they retained their nursing license, which is required to give hands-on patient care.

In Broward County, retired nurses are shouldering a significant part of the vaccination rollout effort through Broward’s unusually active and highly organized Medical Reserve unit (see Call in the Reserves: How Broward County Volunteers are Helping the Vaccination Effort). In other counties, recruiting retired nurses as volunteers has occurred more as a result of personal connections between former nurses and local officials leading the vaccination effort.

Because not all retired nurses have retained their nursing licenses, some have helped out by scheduling vaccinations or by working in coordinating and support roles at vaccination sites, as Tallahassee’s Thomas has.

Others, such as Peare, are administering vaccines themselves. Peare has worked eight shifts as a volunteer in vaccination clinics administered by Baptist’s Kendall hospital, giving about 35 to 40 vaccinations in each five-hour shift.

Lori Green, who’s been retired from an extensive career as a labor and delivery nurse for about 10 years, heads up the Reserve Medical Unit’s nursing pod. About 350 volunteers have actively participated in the vaccination effort, including about 125 nurses. Green believes the vast majority are retired nurses.

“With COVID, initially, I felt relieved not to have to be in the formal hospital setting,” said Green. “But when vaccine came on the horizon, for me at least, my thought was, how could I use a skill that is such a  basic nursing skill – administering a shot?”

All the nurses interviewed for this story are frustrated by the hesitancy of some people to get vaccinated against coronavirus. 

But nurses also say they have learned to set aside their frustration and listen respectfully to concerns voiced by those who are hesitant to get vaccinated. “Listen first, and make sure people can get trusted information, that’s the key,” said Thomas.

Retired nurses also say they have welcomed the opportunity to revisit a role they found deeply rewarding.

“Nursing is not just a job. When people say it’s a calling, that is so true,” said Thomas. “I’ve known people who got into nursing because it was a sure job. But if you don’t like people, it’s hard to stay with it. When people are sick, they’re usually not at their best. You’ve got to like people.”

Rocky Hanna, superintendent of Leon County Schools, knows a lot about Joan Thomas – she is his mother, after all – and he sees the volunteer service of retired nurses in a pandemic as a part of the same pattern as choosing a nursing career.

“My mother is an angel sent from heaven,” Hanna said. “She has a servant’s heart. She has always been a giver, most importantly to her children and her family, but she’s taken care of thousands of children in our community as a pediatric nurse. That giving spirit has continued into her retirement. It’s just a part of her DNA.”