14 GEORGIANVIEW 2021 SPRING
#GCHeroes #GCHeroes
In the spring of 2020, Shelley Biscoe was the extremely
busy quality experience leader for the medical and
rehabilitation floors at Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital
(OSMH). As lead on policy, patient safety and training, a
large part of her work suddenly pivoted to preparing her
colleagues for the new and frightening COVID-19 virus.
A few weeks later, Shelley herself became the hospital's
first COVID-19 patient. She credits her colleagues –
nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, pharmacists and
others – with saving her life.
"At first, I never really felt ill, but my brain was affected
immediately," she recalls. "I was in a Zoom meeting, and
suddenly it felt as if everyone was talking like Charlie
Brown's teacher. It was all mumbled and I couldn't
understand a word."
By that night she had a fever. Then a COVID-19 test
confirmed her fears. She had contracted the virus, despite
her best efforts to take precautions.
After Georgian College, Shelley's career in nursing
took her to the United States, including a stint at the
renowned Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre
in Washington D.C. She returned to her hometown of
Orillia, Ontario in 2003 and until recently, spent most of
her career in the OSMH Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
NURSING ALUMNA TURNED
COVID-19 PATIENT
Shelley Biscoe, class of 1994
