{"id":90947,"date":"2020-06-19T09:09:25","date_gmt":"2020-06-19T13:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=90947"},"modified":"2024-01-04T14:58:22","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T19:58:22","slug":"ddn-former-wright-state-runner-racing-to-save-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2020\/06\/19\/ddn-former-wright-state-runner-racing-to-save-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Dayton Daily News: Former Wright State runner racing to save lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Former Wright State distance runner Kristen Leahy (formerly Sevier) has been a source of pride for the university as a nursing school alum and now a frontline warrior in the fight against the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

Leahy, who grew up in Loveland and graduated from Kings High School in 2014, now lives in the Boston area with her husband Logan, . She works on the general medicine floor at Massachusetts General Hospital.<\/p>\n

Around early April that part of the hospital began to be flooded with COVID-19 patients, with nearly 30 extra beds needed to accommodate the spike in cases at one point.<\/p>\n

With Covid-19, there\u2019s been a learning curve for the medical profession. Leahy says those unknowns could be overwhelming at times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re still learning about it themselves,\u201d said Leahy, who ran cross country and track at Wright State. \u201cSo I think at first you\u2019re just overwhelmed because you want to keep your patients and yourself safe, but you\u2019re trying to figure out what PPE (personal protective equipment) you need to put on and how long you should be in the room. You just have all these questions and you\u2019re waiting for answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leahy said having patients die is the most heart-wrenching aspect of the crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that was the hardest part. We just had so many rules about people coming into the hospital,\u201d Leahy said. \u201cSome patients got to have one family member there, and then for others it was just us. We were just doing our best to stay with them when we could and make them comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite a wide range of risks Leahy added that there was a sense of camaraderie amongst herself and her coworkers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, I feel like there has been teamwork with my co-workers and I. We just knew that we had to do this and get through this,\u201d she said \u201cWe have to be the ones to keep a positive attitude because the patients are scared or worried.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leahy\u2019s parents, Kevin and Anna Sevier, were concerned about their daughter\u2019s well-being.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer mom Anna and I were very nervous for her when we found out she would be on the frontlines treating patients who had contracted this terrible virus. We also knew this is what Kristen signed up for and had trained for both in college and in her time as a nurse,\u201d Kevin Sevier said. \u201cWe encouraged her to embrace the moment as she would call us when residents in Boston were applauding and cheering for the medical workers at shift change from their apartment windows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leahy said running helped her develop a mental toughness that has been helpful during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can get over your fear of things in your mind that are holding you back, then you can play that into life,\u201d she said. \u201cJust like when you\u2019re out there running and maybe you\u2019re dying on mile three, you tell yourself, \u201c\u2018Alright, you have to keep going because at some point it will end.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

View the original story at daytondailynews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excerpt Former Wright State distance runner Kristen Leahy (formerly Sevier) has been a source of pride for the university as a nursing school alum and now a frontline warrior in the fight against the coronavirus. Leahy, who grew up in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":90963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[730],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wright-state-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90947"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145449,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90947\/revisions\/145449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}