Veteran Nurse Could Have Taken Easier Job

When she accepted a job 20 years ago at the Hudson County Correctional Center in New Jersey, many of her friends were puzzled. A veteran nurse, she had many other offers to work in less intense settings, but Daisy Doronila felt moved to work at the correctional facility.

This spring, Doronila was excited to travel with church friends to Israel and picked up extra shifts at the correctional facility so she would have pocket money for her travels. The trip was canceled amid concerns about the coronavirus—on the same day Doronila fell ill with COVID-19. She was in a hospital intensive care unit for 14 days and died April 5.

The Hudson correctional facility is the center of one of the largest outbreaks on the East Coast with dozens of inmates, federal immigration detainees and staff members infected. But Doronila’s daughter, Denise Rendor, said she tries not to look at her mother as being a victim.

“She took her oath as a nurse with pride and honor,” Rendor said in her eulogy. “And understood the commitment to her oath.”