OSF HealthCare / Courtesy
For Robin Dennewitz, the best part of her cleaning job at OSF Healthcare St. Joseph Medical Center is talking to the patients. And they’ve never needed her more.
They need Dennewitz to keep them safe and for a little companionship. Visitor policies are a lot tighter because of the pandemic.
“Sometimes during COVID, they’re really talkative because they’re lonely, because they don’t have anybody with them,” Dennewitz said. “So sometimes I might be in there 20 or 25 minutes.”
Dennewitz is part of a small army of cleaning technicians who’ve kept patients and employees safe at St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington and Carle BroMenn Medical Center in Normal. Cleanliness and hygiene have always been important in a hospital setting, but COVID makes it more so. Some of these technicians tell WGLT they feel more appreciated doing what they do, not unlike the doctors and nurses who’ve been hailed as heroes during this public health cri