MEET ED

How do we arrive at the exact place at the time where we are needed the most? It isn’t always a straight path.

If you had asked Ed Fitzgerald, a former NYC Fire Department Medic and current Assistant Director of Facilities at Crystal Run Healthcare, where he was needed most in March of 2020, he would have said that he and his wife Carol would be on a long-planned trip to welcome their new grandchild into the world.

Ed has worked at Crystal Run Healthcare since 2011. Initially joining us to work in Urgent Care as a Medical Assistant, Ed soon decided to change career paths and transitioned to Facilities Management. Moving up through the ranks, Ed has been a mechanic, lead mechanic, Facilities supervisor, and was recently promoted to the Assistant Director of Facilities at Crystal Run Healthcare.

IT MATTERS TO ED TO BE THERE FOR HIS FAMILY.

Outside of Crystal Run Healthcare, Ed dedicates his time to his family, which he values over anything else. Ed and Carol live close to both of their mothers, and two of their three grown sons, in houses they built over the years. They have experienced the pride and joy of witnessing each of their sons grow up, join the military, fall in love, and start their own families.

THEN COVID-19 CHANGED EVERYONE’S PLANS.

In March of 2020, when the pandemic was born, so was their first grandson. Between state regulations and a desire to keep their family safe, they had to put their hopes to see their newest grandchild born on hold.

“In March we were getting ready to leave, and then everything was shut down,” recalled Ed, “It was disheartening because we were there for the birth of all the other grandkids. But looking around at what everyone else was going through at the time, we knew it was just a setback - an inconvenience.”

THOUGH USED TO CHALLENGES, COVID-19 WAS NEW TERRITORY FOR ED AND THE FACILITIES TEAM.

Learning as they went, they scrambled to find more spaces indoors to fit patients safely, and to figure out how the practice could see patients outdoors for COVID-19 testing. Could they find tents that enabled their co-workers to do their jobs in livable conditions?

Ordinary outdoor event tents could not hold up to the winter chill, sleet, and snow; and needed to be set up daily. Reinforced tents needed to be ordered. Sandbags had to be put in place to keep the tents from being blown away from the late-winter storms. Propane runs became a daily task in order to keep outside areas at a functional temperature for staff. Problem-solving on the fly kept Ed and the team working long past their normal schedule.

Having been in their shoes, Ed understood the needs of the clinical staff. He made sure that buildings were open, and structures were safe so patients could be seen.

ON THE HOME FRONT, ED WANTED TO PROTECT CAROL AND THEIR MOTHERS.

At home, Carol was caring for both his mother and hers who were battling serious illnesses.
Each day when Ed returned home, his clothes went directly into the washing machine, and he kept to a different part of the house. Doing all the shopping and keeping distant from beloved grandkids were all part of the sacrifices that his daily life required.

FOR ED, COVID-19 WAS A
LEARNING EXPERIENCE.

“Learning to face the unknown. Learning how to handle the scary moments when you don’t know how it’s going to turn out. Learning that the things that matter in life are the simplest things that are in front of you every day.”

AT LAST, ED AND CAROL WERE ABLE TO HOLD THEIR NEW GRANDCHILD.

It was seven months before Ed and Carol could meet and hold their grandson.

His family is lucky to have a person like Ed in their lives. And so are we.