Bethel Coronavirus: Family Reconnects With ICU Nurse

BETHEL, CT — Since the new coronavirus hit southwestern Connecticut particularly fast and hard in March, the lives of area residents have been upended. For most, that's meant a reappraisal of their Netflix queue or developing a new appreciation for Sudoku. But for health care workers, particularly those employed at local hospitals, it's been an endless parade of extra-long shifts and hazardous conditions, marching to a regular drumbeat of patient fatalities.

The situation has been especially tough on the nurses in the Intensive Care Unit at Danbury Hospital, which has had the grim distinction of being ground zero for the COVID-19 crisis in the area.

And it's been no day at the beach for those nurses' families, either.

"My sister has been on the front lines for a couple months now, and it's hard to stay connected," said Laura Nesta, of Bethel.

Nesta's sister, Chrissy Tenezaca, had been a nurse in the post-operative Step-Down Unit at Danbury Hospital, caring for patients recovering from surgery, when the new coronavirus hit the area. COVID-19 patients began flooding the hospital, and she was rapidly retrained as an Intensive Care Unit nurse. She has been working overnights in the ICU ever since.

So Nesta decided to throw her sibling a little event.

She contacted Waterbury-based decorator Balloons By M, and made arrangements to transform her front yard into a landscape of pastels and rainbows. Her brother-in-law, Luis Tenezaca, got in touch with all of their friends, the rest of the family, and a sizable chunk of the Bethel community for some of that long overdue "connecting."

Her friends all came to the event (staying inside their cars, of course) to greet her, and her Kayview Drive neighbors filled their yards with warm wishes.

Nursing is Chrissy Tenezaca's second career. She has a bachelor's degree in religious studies and worked in the not-for-profit sector, doing family counseling, before getting her RN. While serving in the Step-Down Unit, she was the recipient of a prestigious patient-nominated Daisy Award.

The Tenezacas have a 15-year-old son, Ryan, attending Bethel High School and working on his Eagle. Both Chrissy and her husband Luis are very active with the Boy Scouts, and Chrissy is also active in the Cub Scouts, with her 8-year-old son, Kevin.

Also in attendance at the early Saturday surprise party was Vincent Perry, the sisters' 82-year-old father. They have kept him pretty much isolated since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, but there was no way he was going to miss this.

"He is very proud of Chrissy," Nesta said.