Ohio Nurses Review - June 2022

Ohio Nurse attends State of the Union
By Barbara Brunt, MA, MN, RN, NPDA-BC, NE-BC
Refynd Duro, BSN, RN, a nurse from the Progressive Care
Unit at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, was invited
by Dr. Jill Biden to join her in the viewing box for President
Biden’s State of the Union address on March 1, 2022. Refynd
has been working for 19 years as a nurse. Over the past two
years, she’s cared for COVID-19 patients who are no longer at
the critical level that warrants intensive care. She was invited
to attend through connections with the ONA, who knew her
as an advocate for patient safety and beside nurses. Refynd,
who was born in the Philippines, said First Lady Jill Biden was
specifically looking for an Asian-American nurse to invite.
When asked about her experience, Refynd said it was
unforgettable, using adjectives such as excited, honored, and
nervous. She felt responsible for representing all nurses in the
US. When she was in Washington, she had dinner at the White
House. Dr. Jill Biden, Doug Harris, and the President’s sister
came out at the end of the dinner to meet all the invited guests,
and there was a photo shoot with Dr. Jill Biden and the Second
Gentleman. Refynd received a surprise at dinner when the group
sang Happy Birthday (her birthday was February 27th and two
of the other guests had birthdays on Feb. 28th). She was allowed
to bring one guest and selected her best friend Tanya Dean, who
enjoyed the ceremony inside the White House in a theater with
a giant screen eating popcorn and drinking champagne. After
dinner the invited guests were shuttled to the Capitol, following
the President’s motorcade. The President came in to meet
everyone after the speech, and Refynd acknowledged that she
froze when she was introduced to the President.
Refynd started out working at Mount Carmel in 1994 and took a
break from school because she was not sure she wanted to be a
nurse. Her father took the Sunday paper, looked at the job hiring
section and circled all the nurses needed. He was the one who
convinced her to become a nurse. Nursing school was difficult
at first because she was just out of high school, so after a couple
years of nursing school, she took a break She wanted to get some
experience, so she became a Patient Care Assistant in 1997. She
worked as a PCA and Dialysis Tech before she went back to
nursing school
After she graduated years later, she started working at the
bedside and has been there ever since. Nursing is her calling
and her passion. She shared some of the stresses she had when
caring for COVID patients. One gentleman who had not been
vaccinated had eight children and she spent two hours in his
room because he was anxious and couldn’t breathe. Initially
she was scared and quarantined from her family for a month,
sending her son to live with her parents. She missed her son’s
birthday during this time. She also has felt the personal loss of
losing a loved one to COVID – her uncle died from COVID.
Refynd graduated from Columbus State Community College in
December of 2002 and got her BSN from Mt. Carmel in 2014.
She has been at Ohio State Medical Center for 12 years and
hopes to go back to school once her son is in school all day. Her
son will be five next week and she is looking forward to being
able to get him vaccinated. As a single Mom, she appreciates the
support of her parents and brother and sister-in-law to help her.
She has been part of the union at Ohio State since she started
in 2010 but became more involved with the union in 2017 when
the union filed a grievance about the nurse-to-patient ratio. She
helped pass out fliers and helped recruit members. In her spare
time, Refynd enjoys taking care of herself with massages and
manicures. She loves going to dinner with friends, as well as
cooking. She also loves to garden; flowers make her happy and
lift her spirits up. She talks with her plants every morning and
after she retires, she may work at a nursery.
www.ohnurses.org | Ohio Nurses Review | Volume 97, Issue 2 | 13