Thank You to Our Heroes!
Amanda Dominguez, OR RN at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center, College Station, Texas
Today we want to honor Amanda Dominguez, OR RN, Baylor Scott & White Medical Center, College Station, Texas. Here is her story as reported by Julie Hays
Amanda Dominguez, a nurse at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in College Station and a member of the Aggie class of 2007, is painting portraits of frontline healthcare workers around the United States in their personal protective gear.
Megan Nutt, a certified surgical technologist who works at both Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center and Ascension Providence Hospital in Waco, was one of her subjects.
The 2005 Marlin High School graduate typically works in operating rooms, but when the virus hit she was shifted to emergency rooms and the ICU to help deal with the influx of COVID-19 patients.
Early on, Megan was so concerned about bringing the virus home to her 13-year-old son, Hayden, she separated herself from him nearly two months, a sacrifice Amanda hoped to capture in her portrait.
“What is very self-sacrificing about Megan is that she avoided contact with her son for over a month so that she didn’t risk bringing COVID home to her son and I find that quite amazing and just a fearless leader and a fearless nurse on the front lines,” Amanda said.
Megan says the time apart was extremely challenging considering she’s always with her son. “Oh yeah, it was very hard being way from him,” she said. “It was difficult mentally just to not see him and only be able to see him on the phone through a Zoom call or I would drive by to say ‘hi’ to him.”
Dominguez has painted 105 portraits so far of frontline workers in their personal protective gear. She came up with the idea at the start of quarantine while watching Marvel movies with her children and realizing heroes who wear masks can be real, too.
“I started painting healthcare workers because I was inspired by other artists and felt called to paint their heroic story,” Amanda said. Amanda has been painting since she was 11 and teaches art in a studio in College Station. She began asking for submissions from healthcare workers on her Amanda Lynne artist Facebook page, which is where she connected with Megan.
Amanda said its selfless stories from all over the country like Megan’s that inspire her to paint and continue painting as she portrays real-life heroes in masks. Submissions may be made through Amanda’s Facebook page.
Thank you Amanda for your commitment, dedication, and compassion for your fellow nurses.
If you have a story and pictures of a front line nurse you would like us to highlight on our website and social media, please email them to us at info@helphopehonor.org.
