Share Photos by Tessa Marie Images Nurses may be pandemic heroes, but COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on their mental health and changed the profession—perhaps forever. Our five nursing legends survey the damage from the frontlines. On an early March weekend in 2020, Montgomery County’s first COVID-19 patient walked through the doors of Einstein Medical Center Montgomery complaining of upper respiratory symptoms. His nurse contacted AnnMarie Papa with this question: “My patient is COVID positive. What do I do?” More than a year later, healthcare executives are still struggling. Although vaccines provide a ray of hope, Papa and her colleagues worry that people will relax mask wearing and other safety precautions, leading to a second wave. “Or are we on the third wave or fifth? I can’t keep track,” says Papa, EMCM’s vice president and its chief nursing officer.