Andrea Dalzell had her registered nurse qualification and hands trained to save lives. What she didn’t have, according to 76 different hospitals, was the right body to do it.
She has used a wheelchair since she was 12 because of transverse myelitis diagnosed when she was barely 5. She graduated, passed her licensing exam in 2018, and set out to find a job in clinical nursing. Interview after interview, the answer was the same: no. Meanwhile, she worked as a school nurse and at a camp without letting go of her goal.
In 2020, when COVID-19 overwhelmed New York’s hospitals, Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx needed experienced hands with ventilators. Andrea’s qualified. They hired her for the ICU at the height of the pandemic, and she became the first registered nurse who uses a wheelchair in the entire state. Today, she is known as ‘The Seated Nurse,’ and in 2021 she was named Person of the Year by New Mobility.