Fall River Charge Nurse Finding Balance in Life During Pandemic

Shannon O’Hara is currently a charge nurse in the Emergency Department at Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River. She is one of the SouthCoast's frontline heroes.

Her fiancé, Brendan Riley, wanted to recognize her in the Spotlight SouthCoast Frontline Heroes program because she has balanced a graduate program on top of working through a pandemic, taking care of patients when they were most vulnerable.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, we were both in graduate school,” Riley said. “While I got pulled from rotations for a period of time, Shannon’s work and school life only got more complicated.”

Get our free mobile app

Since O’Hara’s program is online, she continued her weekly schooling while also working every week to help provide care to patients.

“She continued to show up every day with a smile on her face (under the mask),” Riley said. “All of the emergency department staff and EMS personnel who know Shannon always her appreciate her calm and composed demeanor even during the most stressful and crazy days.”

When Riley had to move back to the western part of the state for a few months to finish schooling, O’Hara took on the added responsibility of being the sole caretaker of their dog and keeping up with chores around the apartment.

“The amount of responsibility she had on her plate was a lot even before adding a pandemic on top of it,” Riley said.

Riley knows that he is lucky to have someone like O’Hara around when the world turns upside down. It could be one of the reasons he decided to make it official.

“We recently got engaged at the beginning of March,” Riley said. “I am so thankful to have this amazing Frontline Hero by my side for the rest of my life.”

If you would like to shine a light on the essential workers in your life, click HERE to nominate them for the Spotlight SouthCoast Frontline Heroes program. Let everyone know what this past year has been like for them and how proud you are to know them. This program is made possible thanks to our sponsors, Prima Care and Bay State Window & Door.