Longtime Riverside teacher assistant, Orchard View employee dies from COVID-19
The East Providence community is mourning the loss of a retired teacher assistant and cheerleading coach who contracted COVID-19 while working at Orchard View Manor.
RIVERSIDE, R.I. (WLNE) – The East Providence community is mourning the loss of a retired teacher assistant and cheerleading coach who contracted COVID-19 while working at Orchard View Manor.
Nancy MacDonald passed away Saturday night after spending 10 days in Rhode Island Hospital. MacDonald came home from work one day feeling sick, her daughter Bethany said, and the next, she was rushed to the hospital.
“She called me the next morning from her room and told me she was COVID positive.”
Bethany MacDonald said her mom was placed on a ventilator, and a few days later, she passed away.
“I got an update around 2 p.m. saying she was stable, and at 6 p.m., my mom went to heaven. I lost my best friend. Stay home. I don’t want anybody to end up in the position I am, cause it’s not fun,” said MacDonald.
Nancy worked for 20 years as a teacher assistant and coach of the cheerleading team at Riverside Middle School. But, Bethany said, retirement wasn’t for her.
“She didn’t want to sit at home and be in retirement. She had to find something to do, and helping people is what she liked to do.”
Nancy went on to work with special needs students, and then saw a job opening at Orchard View Manor. She worked as a receptionist there for the past two years.
The home has been a hotspot for COVID-19. As of Tuesday, Orchard View has had more than 130 positive cases and 41 deaths.
“I begged my mom not to go to work. The day we had that conversation, her words were to me, ‘Bethany, I’m going to work. They need me.'”
It’s that attitude that is the legacy Nancy leaves behind. Going to work, and putting her own safety second to helping others.
“She loved every patient there, she loved all the staff. She was just happy to be out with people and working and doing what she loved which was helping people.”
The news of Nancy’s death circulated social media. A GoFundMe for the family to pay for funeral expenses has raised more than $5,000.
“A child would say oh, I loved your mom, she helped me read, or I loved your mom, she helped me to write. There’s so many stories out there with so many children that I didn’t even know she touched their hearts. She touched many people and if I could be just one-quarter of what she was to everybody, I’d be honored.”
The outpouring of love from the Townie Community, Bethany said, is helping the family cope with their devastating loss.
“I mean, I knew my mother was loved, I knew she had many friends, but the outpouring of support, it’s amazing. I thank everybody for every one of them because somebody has a memory with her and it really shows me how many hearts she did touch.”
© WLNE-TV 2020
