A Chicago nurse who lost her life to the coronavirus used social media to share about her fight with the disease and urge others on the front lines of the pandemic to take precautions.
Anjanette Miller, a veteran nurse of almost two decades, worked at two facilities in the Chicago area.
Miller initially went to the hospital in mid-March after contracting coronavirus-like symptoms. The nurse tested negative for coronavirus and was informed she had diabetes, a condition which Miller said she had been predisposed to.
Miller posted a video on YouTube in which she talked about her experience of testing negative and diabetes diagnosis.
However, just days later, her coronavirus symptoms came back.
"Healthcare workers are not immune to COVID-19," Miller said in a Facebook post. " We all have to go, I guess. Just a matter of time. My fellow nurses/frontliners, take every precaution."
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Miller died from coronavirus-related complications earlier this week. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office ruled her death was from pneumonia due to a COVID-19 infection with hypertension and diabetes as contributing factors.
Grant Donasco, Miller's cousin who lives in the Philippines where both women grew up, said Anjanette was like a sister to her.
"She is a hardworking nurse, selfless," Donasco said. "She worked to her bone, seldom took a rest."
Donasco also pleaded with people to stay home because she said "there will be a lot of workers risking their lives just to save one."
Community First Medical Center in Chicago, where Miller worked one day a week as a house manager, released a statement following her death.
"It is with a heavy heart that we mourn the loss of Anjanette Miller, a beloved member of the Community First Medical Center family," the statement read, in part. "Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends during this difficult time."
In the statement, Community First continued to say that protecting the health and safety of its patients, employees and physicians is its top important priority, and the hospital has stockpiled necessary personal protective equipment and doubled its supply of ventilators.
