Bridget Keefe, BSN, RN

VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA

NOVA Chapter 226

Bridget Keefe, BSN, RN

Bridget Keefe is a full-time nurse on nights in the Surgical ICU at the West Roxbury Campus at the VA Boston Healthcare System. She is a graduate of Norwich University’s Nursing Program of 2018 where she received her commission as an Officer into the Army. Bridget is a U.S. Army First Lieutenant Nurse with the Massachusetts Army National Guard and serves as a Medical Treatment Platoon Leader within the 182nd Area Support Medical Company. During the Commonwealth of Massachusetts crisis, she was placed on active military duty with her National Guard unit to support the patients impacted with the Virus at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. The virus devastated the elderly residents, and The National Guard was tasked to deliver care, establish protocols to help control the spread of the virus, and provide acute care to the patients.

From March through August 2020, Bridget oversaw 60 Army and Air Force medics, and 20 Army and Air Force nurses and 8 military Doctors. She filled the role of Acting Night Shift Supervisor at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, implementing training to both military and civilian personnel on the new policies and procedures to control the COVID-19 outbreak. She assisted the Infectious Disease administration in creating a PPE policy, COVID testing policy, aerosol medication administration policy, End of life COVID management policy, and COVID patient transfer policies. “When we first got to the Holyoke Soldiers Home, we were told we would mostly be assisting in nutrition repletion and assisting the staff in any way we could. It quickly turned into us filling in roles as nurses, nursing assistants, and administration personnel along with the decimated Holyoke Soldiers’ Home staff due to the severity of the COVID outbreak within the facility. As soon as we walked in the facility, we were 100% invested with the Soldiers’ Home Staff in doing whatever we could to take care of and support these Veterans and their families.” Bridget took this opportunity to put her nursing skills and military leadership to use by also serving as a Day Nurse Supervisor to the Holyoke Soldiers Home. She coordinated scheduling and staffing for the units, implemented education and training for staff, continued to facilitate end of life measures, implemented infectious disease policies, as well as coordinated family visitation and computer “FaceTime” meetings with the use of iPads donated by the Military Friends Foundation.

“COVID-19 definitely showed how strong and versatile nurses are as well as how critical they are throughout the healthcare field. We wear many hats, as I quickly learned during the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home mission. I am thankful I had such a strong support system with my National Guard unit and my amazing co-workers at the VA continuously checking in with me, giving me the guidance and support needed during these very trying times. I realized how much I have learned from serving as a VA Nurse. The mentoring and teaching I received from our great VA healthcare professionals allowed me to make a difference. It gave me the tools I needed to accomplish our mission, and make sure the patients that recovered from the virus, and those that we kept from becoming infected, were protected and received the medical attention all patients and Veterans hope for when entering a medical facility.”