Four vaccinated healthcare heroes at Baptist Health are heading to Super Bowl LV, thanks to the Jags

JACKSONVILLE, FLa. —

Four vaccinated healthcare workers at Baptist Health in Jacksonville can check ‘attending a Super Bowl’ off their bucket lists.

Each of the 32 NFL clubs received four Super Bowl LV tickets to give to local health care workers.

The Jacksonville Jaguars worked alongside Baptist Health, the official health care provider of the Jaguars, to choose recipients who have gone above and beyond to care for the community.

Jaguars legend Tony Boselli delivered the surprise.

“It’s a small token, but it’s what the NFL and the Jaguars felt like we could do to honor you all,” said Boselli during the surprise.

Jodie Bisogno, Director of Critical Care at Baptist Health South, was one of the lucky four to get a free ticket to the Super Bowl in Tampa Bay Feb. 7.

A huge football fan, she said it’s an opportunity of a lifetime.

“This is a complete bucket list moment,” Bisogno said.

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Bisogno and her team have been caring for the most critical COVID-19 patients for nearly a year.

“We’ve seen sicker patients come through than we’ve ever had before,” Bisogno said.

“You’re doing everything you can for everybody that comes in that door.”

She said the hardest part is not letting family members be with their loved one in the ICU.

“Now, it has changed to where we’re the family, we are the ones that are there,” Bisogno said.

“It takes a toll on the team. You get so invested in a family and in a patient.”

Receiving a ticket to the big game means the world to Vincy Samuel, an epidemiologist and Director of Employee Health at Baptist Health, who said it’s been grueling year on the frontlines.

“Our brains never stop working, our bodies never stop moving and we keep coming in the next day to make sure that we can do our part in, you know, helping stop this pandemic,” Samuel said.

All four recipients have completed their COVID-19 vaccinations and will join roughly 7,500 other vaccinated healthcare workers in the stands. It’s part of the NFL’s tribute to health care workers who have worked non-stop throughout the pandemic.

It’s also an opportunity to raise COVID-19 vaccine awareness.

“Also, appreciative of the fact that they are promoting the vaccines,” Samuel said.

“I think that’s so important for the public to see that getting vaccinated is really important.”

Both Bisogno and Samuel said being able to share this experience with others in the medical field after a challenging year, will be something they never forget.

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“To know that there’s that many other healthcare professionals that are going to be there as well that have all been through the same thing, we’ve all kind of walked through the same shoes together, just amazing,” Bisogno said.

The Baptist Health healthcare employees to attend Super Bowl LV include:

• Kelly Guion, RN, Nurse Manager, Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville – Guion oversees a 48-bed COVID unit in downtown Jacksonville and provides direct patient care.
• Vincy Samuel, Ph.D., Director, Employee Health, Baptist Health – Samuel, an epidemiologist, served as the point person for employee health and plays a critical role in overseeing employee and patient vaccination rollout.
• Jodie Bisogno, RN, Director, Critical Care, Baptist Medical Center South – Bisogno has led the COVID unit at Baptist South since the beginning of the pandemic also providing direct patient care.
• Edward Gorak, DO, MBA, MS, FACP, Hematologist Oncologist, Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center – Gorak played a critical role in working alongside other physicians and clinical staff in developing a community-wide approach to combatting COVID.

Cox Media Group