海角大神

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Jessica Mendoza: This is Yarleny Roa-Dugan.聽

Laine Perfas: Yarleny is a health care worker 鈥�

Laine Perfas: 鈥� and a mom, with two kids.聽

Mendoza: In other words, she鈥檚 part of the two most exhausted demographics of the pandemic: working moms and frontline workers. Yarleny is who we鈥檙e talking about when we talk about the women fighting to care for their families. And care for the rest of us, too.聽

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Laine Perfas: I鈥檓 Samantha Laine Perfas.聽

Mendoza: And I鈥檓 Jessica Mendoza. This is 鈥淪tronger鈥� 鈥撀�

Laine Perfas: 鈥� what women have lost to this pandemic, and how they鈥檙e winning it back.

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Laine Perfas: In this episode: The Nurse.聽

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Mendoza: Like with everyone else in this series, we started talking to Yarleny in March. And it became clear to us almost right away: Yarleny is not easily fazed.聽

Laine Perfas: Part of that is her job. Dealing with pregnant humans everyday takes someone who can pivot quickly, and think on their feet.

Mendoza: The other part is that Yarleny has spent years building up tolerance for high stress situations. She鈥檚 33, but she became a mom pretty young.聽

Laine Perfas: And she figured out how to raise her son during the day while going to school at night. It was not a walk in the park.聽

Mendoza: You鈥檇 think she would get some kind of reward for powering through in that situation. Instead what she got was a divorce.聽

Laine Perfas: When you look at , nursing has some of the highest in the country. Not long after she graduated and started her first job as a nurse, Yarleny found herself a single mom.

Mendoza: Yarleny married again a few years later 鈥� to her current husband, Leo. And they had a little girl, Leya. You can kind of hear her in the background there. Leya was 3 at the time, and insisted on sitting with her mom during our conversations.聽

Mendoza: We鈥檒l hear more 鈥�

Laine Perfas: 鈥� a lot more! 鈥�

Mendoza: 鈥� from Leya later. But this is all to say, Yarleny is pretty unflappable. Her whole life has been all about multitasking, pushing herself, doing everything she has to do and then some. She鈥檚 not afraid of working hard. And yet: 2020 going into 2021 was still one of the toughest years of her life.聽

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Laine Perfas: A couple more things before we get into the details of Yarleny鈥檚 year, because they鈥檙e important to who she is as a person and to her story. First is that Yarleny loves being a nurse.

Mendoza: She remembers the nurses who took care of her at the time and wants to pay it forward.聽

Laine Perfas: And for all the stress involved with helping people give birth 鈥撀犅�

Mendoza: One of Yarleny鈥檚 favorite things is the lullaby.聽

[Lullaby music]

Mendoza: The second thing to know is that since 2017, Yarleny had been working at two hospitals. She asked us not to name them. But at one 鈥� we鈥檒l call it 鈥渢he county hospital鈥� 鈥� she was working full time, 12-hour shifts at least three days a week. At the other 鈥� which we鈥檒l call 鈥渢he private hospital鈥� 鈥� she was working on a 鈥減er diem鈥� basis.聽

Mendoza: A couple years ago the health care staffing organization AMN of 20,000 registered nurses across the country. It found that 22% worked a second nursing job.聽

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Laine Perfas: Yarleny had already been kind of unhappy at her part time job at the private hospital, even before the pandemic. But the money helped. Yarleny says that after pooling her earnings from both jobs, she made more than $80,000 in 2019.聽

Mendoza: That year, CNBC came out with that listed the living wage for a family of four for every state. For Nevada it was a bit more than $67,000 a year 鈥� which put Yarleny鈥檚 family in a pretty comfortable spot.聽

Laine Perfas: But as the pandemic鈥檚 first wave began to peak, Yarleny grew more and more uncomfortable with how the hospital was handling the crisis. Especially, she says, when she compared it to how her employers at the county were dealing with it.聽

Mendoza: She says that during that time, she tried to speak out.聽

Mendoza: We reached out to the hospital for comment. A spokesperson from their corporate headquarters told us in an email that their hospitals have always complied with CDC guidance around COVID-19 protocols.聽

Laine Perfas: They said, quote, 鈥淭he safety of our patients and colleagues is our number one priority.鈥�

Mendoza: We should also note that Yarleny is an active member of the Nevada service workers鈥� union, SEIU Local 1107. During the pandemic, the union held a number of protests at hospitals. Among other things, they criticized the treatment of health care workers.聽聽

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Laine Perfas: Despite all that, Yarleny struggled with the idea of quitting. Mainly because she didn鈥檛 want to leave her coworkers in a lurch.聽

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Mendoza: That internal conflict between frustration and guilt 鈥� that鈥檚 Yarleny鈥檚 story. But it鈥檚 also the story of so many health care workers throughout the pandemic. (And in the U.S., are women.)聽

Laine Perfas: There鈥檚 not yet a ton of data available on the mental health of frontline workers during the pandemic. But surveyed more than 600 health care workers in New York City in April 2020.聽

Mendoza: That鈥檚 Jessi Gold, a psychiatrist and assistant professor at the School of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. She sees a lot of health care workers and medical students in her practice.聽

Laine Perfas: It鈥檚 even more stressful when you have a family at home to think about and care for. , this one from the University of Utah, found that 20% of health care workers very seriously thought about leaving the workforce during the pandemic.聽

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Mendoza: In the end, Yarleny quit her part-time job at the private hospital.聽

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Mendoza: But 2020 being 2020, that feeling of relief didn鈥檛 last very long.聽

Laine Perfas: It does get better for Yarleny eventually 鈥� but first it gets worse.聽

Mendoza: Stay with us.

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Mendoza: When we left Yarleny, she鈥檇 just quit her part time job at the private hospital. It felt like the right decision. But then a couple weeks after she quit, her husband Leo injured his right hand 鈥� his dominant hand 鈥� at work.聽

Laine Perfas: Leo, as we mentioned, is a carpenter. And the injury was bad enough that he couldn鈥檛 use the hand. So he couldn鈥檛 work or do much at home. Not only was that a second, unexpected pay cut for the family. But Yarleny suddenly also had to run the household alone.聽

Mendoza: This is Yarleny during our last Zoom conversation before Sam and I went to Las Vegas to see her.聽

Laine Perfas: Leo was out of commission for basically the rest of 2020. But the real kicker happened in December. Leo was finally well enough to start working again. He went back out on the job 鈥� and almost immediately got COVID from one of his coworkers.聽

Mendoza: Yarleny only had so much paid time off. She knew that when that ran out, she could risk losing her job over too many absences. She was eligible for additional leave through the Family Medical Leave Act, or FMLA 鈥撀�

Laine Perfas: 鈥� but that process turned out to be a whole new struggle. Actually getting that leave certification from a health care provider. But everyone was so busy, dealing with the spike in cases after the holidays. And then of course, Yarleny couldn鈥檛 leave her house. So she had to do everything via phone or email.聽

Mendoza: So the whole time, she was stressing about what would happen if she couldn鈥檛 get the FMLA application approved. And, again, at that point, she was the only person in her family making any money.

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Laine Perfas: Yarleny did manage to get her leave approved through FMLA. She kept her job, and went back to work as soon as she could.聽

Mendoza: But after hearing about what she went through we had to ask: Why did it need to be so hard?聽

Laine Perfas: That鈥檚 Yemisi Jones. She teaches pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She鈥檚 also part of a startup that works on gender equity in her field.聽

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Mendoza: So here鈥檚 one of the many things that we loved about talking to Yarleny: Even though she鈥檚 been through the wringer this year, she didn鈥檛 for a second talk about backing down.聽

Laine Perfas: Nope, totally the opposite: When we met up with her in Las Vegas, she was upbeat, looking ahead to the summer and beyond, and even thinking about how she could help change things for others like her.聽

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Laine Perfas: Yarleny鈥檚 home is all on one floor, very roomy, with a huge backyard and sunroom that they use for parties. The kids have their own rooms 鈥�

Mendoza: 鈥� and Leya was very excited to show us hers, which was filled with stuffed animals, a play kitchen, and her very own carpenter set.

Laine Perfas: There was also one room that was sort of part office, part exhibit for Yarleny鈥檚 awesomeness.聽

Mendoza: Had we mentioned? She鈥檚 a black belt in taekwondo.聽

Mendoza: Eventually, we made our way to their big dining table 鈥� the one they never use, because聽apparently the four of them preferred to squish themselves into the much smaller table in the kitchen.聽

Laine Perfas: We had a couple hours to catch up with her before she had to get to work.聽

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Mendoza: We said early on 鈥� Yarleny鈥檚 lived through a lot of hard years. So we asked her how 2020 stacked against all the others.

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Laine Perfas: We didn鈥檛 want Yarleny to be late for work 鈥� her shift at the hospital started at 6:45 pm sharp. So we wrapped up our conversation. And while Yarleny tried to get a few bites of food, Leya proceeded to order Jess around.

Mendoza: Leya tried to get me to do this jump-roll martial arts move on her play mat. She even showed me how to do it. If that鈥檚 not the makings of an independent woman, I don鈥檛 know what is.聽

Laine Perfas: Leya was hilarious. So Leya just turned 4. And she always wants her mom to stay home from work, to spend time with her. It鈥檚 one of the reasons it鈥檚 been so difficult for Yarleny to leave in the evenings.

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Mendoza: That was Sam trying to stop Leya from commandeering our microphone while Yarleny was telling us this really sweet story 鈥�

Laine Perfas: During our visit, though, Yarleny had to go in. And Leya was not happy about it.聽聽

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Mendoza: That night, we dropped off Yarleny at work. We made plans to pick her up the next morning, when her shift ended. I remember feeling really tired on the drive back to our Airbnb.聽 And then immediately, I was like, Who am I kidding? I was just going to bed. Yarleny just gave us her whole afternoon, and now she was starting a 12-hour overnight shift. I mean, the woman really is unstoppable. I mean, we didn鈥檛 even get into the fact that she鈥檚 been working on her bachelor鈥檚 degree this whole time.聽

Laine Perfas: It鈥檚 really wild, when she鈥檚 not working she stays up all night studying, and she graduated this June! I mean, she truly is unstoppable, and there are so many things that she wants to accomplish. And yet there鈥檚 this recognition that it鈥檚 too much, she鈥檚 being pulled in so many directions. Mom, nurse, student. So can she manage it all in a sustainable way? And you鈥檝e got to wonder, how does society better support super ambitious, driven women like her? So that they鈥檙e not just pulling the weight all on their own?聽

Mendoza: We actually talked to Yarleny a little more about that the next day, in the car when we were driving her home from work.聽

[Ambient of Yarleny getting into the car]

Laine Perfas: Well, first we ate. We went to a local Colombian-American restaurant, one of Yarleny鈥檚 favorites. We gobbled dulce de leche waffles 鈥�

Mendoza: 鈥� chorizo omelettes 鈥撀�

Laine Perfas: 鈥� and breakfast empanadas.聽

Mendoza: When our bellies were happy and full, we got down to business.聽

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Laine Perfas: Thanks for joining us!

Mendoza: Next time on 鈥淪tronger鈥�: We鈥檒l meet Mariza Rocha, who works as a utility porter at the STRAT Hotel and Casino. Her story really shows how important it is to have someone who has your back during a major crisis. For Rocha, her union was that lifeline.

Mendoza: We hope you鈥檒l join us. And if you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us! You can find all our episodes by searching for 鈥淪tronger鈥� on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher. Or visit csmonitor.com/stronger.聽聽

Laine Perfas: This episode was reported and produced by me, Samantha Laine Perfas.聽

Mendoza: And me, Jessica Mendoza.

Laine Perfas: Edited by Clay Collins and Trudy Palmer. Sound design by Morgan Anderson and Noel Flatt. Brought to you by 海角大神, copyright 2021.

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