Idaho health care provider died of COVID-19. Husband and kids ‘want her death not to be in vain’
A pediatric nurse practitioner in the Boise area died Monday morning from complications of COVID-19.
Samantha Hickey, 45, of Caldwell, leaves behind a husband and four children, according to St. Luke’s Health System. She did not have any known underlying health conditions, according to a press release sent Monday evening.
St. Luke’s Children’s physician Dr. Alicia Lachiondo was unable to comment on Hickey’s illness but said the death was “a pretty big shock” to her and colleagues at St. Luke’s.
“It’s with a heavy heart I share w/ you about the passing of a colleague, Samantha Hickey, who died today from complications from #COVID19,” St. Luke’s spokesperson Anita Kissee said Monday on Twitter.
“Samantha Hickey was a valued member of the St. Luke’s Children’s team,” the health system said in a statement to media Monday. “She provided dedicated and compassionate care to children in the greater Canyon County area for 15 years. She spent her clinical days caring for patients, training the next generation of nurse practitioners, and advocating for the wellbeing of her community. Our organization is hurting along with her family and loved ones.
“Samantha’s death is a heartbreaking consequence of the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a life-long learner and community-minded caregiver, Samantha’s husband and four children say she wanted to make a difference. They believe she would want her death not to be in vain, but to serve as a stark reminder that people must do whatever they can to protect themselves and others and take this pandemic seriously.”
At least 760 health care workers in Idaho have contracted the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
Hickey had posted recently on social media about having the coronavirus. “I would kick butt at Fear Factor food challenge, since I can’t taste or smell right now,” she wrote on Thursday. “However, considering I have to lay down in the middle of taking a shower, I would fail the obstacle challenge.”
Lachiondo said Hickey was concerned about the safety of her patients, as well as her own family and friends. She stressed the importance of recommendations by public health officials to Idahoans to wear masks in public and in shared spaces, wash hands frequently and keep at least a 6-foot distance from people who aren’t in your own household.
Lachiondo said Hickey would want people to “be very aware and very vigilant (and know) that something like this can happen suddenly to us ... any one of us.”
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 4:55 PM.
