By Daphne Sashin
Horace Hubbard
Horace Hubbard, a customer service dispatcher for Inpatient Transport, has had a lifelong passion for the performing arts. So when Marion Leary, MSN, MPH, director of innovation at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, invited him to participate in a theater project about frontline workers’ experiences during the pandemic, he said yes right away.
Penn Nursing partnered with Elevate Theatre Company, which produces theater centered on health topics, to produce The Frontline Health Workers Digital Theater project, a two-play event on March 31 based on the first-hand accounts of Penn Medicine and Penn Nursing staff during the first two years of COVID-19.
Hubbard and other health workers participated in a workshop with playwright Nikki Brake-Sillá, MFA – who happened to also be a Penn Medicine project manager – to inspire “Silos,” a play that transpires over one day at a hospital. While covering burnout, vaccine hesitancy, and medical racism, the piece ultimately showed how health workers relied on each other for support, strength, and hope.
“We shared feelings, emotions, and personal encounters we dealt with during the height of the pandemic,” said Hubbard, who plays drums and piano, and acts, to balance his time. “It was great way to release some tucked-away feelings, share some personal uncertainties, and realize that all of us were feeling the same throughout our daily walks.”
Following the plays – performed on Zoom and streamed live on Penn Nursing’s YouTube channel and Facebook page – Leary moderated a discussion featuring Hubbard, Hope Adkins-Durante, BSN, a nurse at Lancaster General Health, and Zachary F. Meisel, MD, MPH, MSHP, associate professor of Emergency Medicine and director of the Center for Emergency Care Policy and Research at the Perelman School of Medicine, along with the playwrights.
Hubbard, Adkins-Durante, and Meisel reflected on what sustained them as they handled daily challenges like difficulties procuring supplies for the hospital, patients who chose not to get vaccinated, and, in some cases, their own family members not being able to relate to the stresses of working at a hospital during COVID.
“I was blown away to work with this team,” Hubbard said afterwards. "In the midst of a very confusing and challenging time, it was invigorating to work with like-minded individuals who shared a dedication to the ultimate mission OK – patient care at its highest level."