What would it take for you to come out of retirement? For a Lockport woman, it was the COVID-19 pandemic.

What You Need To Know

  • Cheryl Hayes retired from her role as vice president of Patient Care Services and chief nursing officer at Kenmore Mercy Hospital in June 2019
  • She came out of retirement last year to help out during the pandemic 
  • Now she's vaccinating people at Kenmore Mercy
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"I thought I would not be doing my job as a nurse if I at least did not offer my services," Cheryl Hayes said.

Hayes headed off into retirement in June 2019 when she left her post as the vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer at Kenmore Mercy Hospital. But the break turned out to be short-lived. 

"I thought, ‘well, least I can do is call somebody and see if they need help’ and they did,” she said.

As New York dealt with the brunt of the pandemic last year, the state called for licensed retired healthcare workers to provide backup for hospitals. Before she knew it, Hayes ended up back at Kenmore Mercy — a place she worked at for more than 20 years.  

"They called me in and asked me to help with their vaccines,” she said. “I also helped back in the spring when COVID first started, helped with St. Joe's, with the staffing there, and I worked at the corporate office at the point of time and I worked there for three months."

Hayes came out of retirement and returned to the front lines for one of her most challenging assignments of her career.

"We've never experienced anything like this, we had the SARS years ago but it was nothing like this where you had to wear a mask, you had to keep the six foot distancing, you had to quarantine," she said.

As the pandemic approaches the one-year mark, Hayes isn't letting up. Spectrum News caught up with her Monday afternoon as she was administering the COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccine POD at Kenmore Mercy. For her, working with the patients keeps her motivated during what's been a strenuous year.

"Just being able to see them, educate them, talk to them and interact, giving the injection is only a small part of it, but being able to help the community at large, that's been very rewarding to me," she said.

She has plans for the summer so she hopes to wrap up in the spring but she'll still offer her services if the need is still there. 

"I'm very glad I did this,” she said.

If you're interested in administering COVID-19 vaccines, check out Vaccinate Western New York's website.