Beloved Amityville Nurse Remembered For Spirituality, Kindness

AMITYVILLE, NY — The last memory Leston Douglas has of his mother is of her dancing in front of their Amityville home with his daughter. Gresmor Blackman-Douglas, who goes by Jesma, worked as a nurse at the ICU unit at Maimonides Medical Center in Borough Park in Brooklyn. She was concerned that she was exposed to the new coronavirus, but after taking a test and receiving a negative result, decided to celebrate her granddaughter.

The following day, the 58-year-old died in car crash on the Southern State Parkway in Hempstead while on her way to work.

Blackman-Douglas, who was born in Lambeau, Tobago, always had a knack for helping people, even from a young age. She was raised as a Seventh-day Adventist, attending the religious high school Harmon School of S.D.A., and was described by many as extremely spiritual. She worked as a teacher before moving to the United States with her husband, Leslie Douglas, shortly after having Leston.

After moving to New York, Blackman-Douglas wanted to continue her education and started her path to become a nurse. She attended Kingsborough Community College to get her associate degree in 1994 before attending nursing school at SUNY-Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. She pushed through her studies even after she became pregnant with her second child, daughter Leneshia Douglas, who was born in 1997. She received a lot of support from her husband and son, who even helped her write her papers while she was in school.

"She toughed it out, it wasn't easy but she toughed it out," Leston said. "We were in it together."

Afterwards, the family all moved to Amityville in 2000 and Blackman-Douglas continued her nursing career at Maimonides Medical Center.

"She did that drive every day," Leston said. "It wasn't a new routine, it was the same drive for 20 something years. It's just unfortunate."

During that time, she developed a lot of friendships in her surgical ICU unit, teaching almost all the nurses everything she knows.

"They're all grateful for my mom," Leston said. "My mom is very respected in that hospital and I basically grew up in that hospital."

But Blackman-Douglas didn't limit herself to helping people at work. Outside of work, she attended her local church frequently and volunteered to help whenever she could. She was the financial committee head for her church, led Friday night prayer meetings, and worked at the local food pantry, even during the coronavirus pandemic.

"Mom was a real pillar of light when it came to her spirituality," Leneshia said. "She put a lot of her people in front of herself."

When the pandemic hit, Blackman-Douglas was didn't hesitate to step up to help.

"With this coronavirus, when it first started, she was the first one to have a patient and she encouraged her other colleagues not to be afraid," Leston said. "Before they would start their shift she would pray with them. She was fearless, she was not selfish at all. She would worry about others to make sure they were okay before anything else because in her heart she knew she was okay so she was worried about everyone else. Her smile would uplift you if you were going through something."

Leneshia said that over the past few weeks, her mother had been getting home even later than usual. Normally she would be home at 9 p.m. after her shift, but since the COVID-19 crisis hit, she would get home around 10 p.m. or 11 p.m., staying extra time in the hospital to make sure everything was in order and her patients were taken care of.

It's clear that Blackman-Douglas impacted so many people in her 20 years working at the Maimonides Medical Center. When Leston went to visit the hospital to pick up her stuff, he said the staff all broke down. One of the nurse managers even told them it was hard to focus after her loss, but they keep replaying the prayer she would recite every day to her co-workers, and they continued to pray even though she's not there anymore.

"It's the only thing helping them push through," he said.

Blackman-Douglas also had a tremendous impact on both of her children, both of whom are planning on following in her footsteps. Leneshia is currently studying to be nurse at the same school her mother attended and Leston, who works in health care, is planning on going back to school to study to be a physician's assistant.

"My mom pushed a lot of people to do the best that they could," Leneshia said. "Seeing all the love and the posts and everybody saying these amazing things and seeing how far her hand has reached, it just blows my mind."

Her influence even spread to her local community. Following her death, her two children have received countless messages of support from hundreds of people whose lives their mother has touched. Shortly after her death, the town of Babylon announced officials will present the family with a posthumous Heroism Award, the town's highest honor, for her commitment to helping others.

Due to the coronavirus, her family can't plan a memorial for the time being, but they are hoping to plan something at nearby Tanner Park, where Blackman-Douglas loved taking walks, once social distancing rules are relaxed.

In addition to her children and husband, she is survived by her grandchildren M’Kenzie Douglas, Quincy Douglas and Skylar Douglas.

All photos courtesy of Leneshia Douglas