Tiffani Santos is scheduled to volunteer for her first Honor Flight Chicago mission later this year with a group of doctors and nurses from the University of Chicago Medicine Aeromedical Network (UCAN). Tiffani is a flight nurse with UCAN, caring for critically ill or injured patients of all ages.
“I have been with UCAN for just over a year, and have worked with a bunch of other nurses who volunteer with (Greater) Peoria Honor Flight,” she said. “I have heard such wonderful things, and volunteering for a flight was something I have always wanted to do. I feel like any opportunity to talk to a former service member is amazing. I’ve always been an Air Force girl, but even if we come from different branches any time I get to talk to them is a real bonding experience.”
Tiffani’s role in the COVID-19 fight comes via her own commitment to service: she is in her 18th year serving with the Illinois Air National Guard and currently is activated with the 182nd Air Wing out of Peoria to perform testing. The medical unit is performing the testing at multiple state-run drive-up locations around Illinois.
“It’s been pretty busy,” she said. “There definitely is a difference between the locations, but I think when you look at per capita the numbers are representative of the location.
“As a person on the ground doing the testing, I feel that the National Guard has done an excellent job in ensuring our safety. They really have. We have more than an adequate supply of PPE at this time, and are being vigilant about conserving that because we don’t know what the future holds.”
The uncertainty that goes with the novel coronavirus is ever-present. Tiffani describes a persistent “fear” because of not knowing what each subsequent week is going to hold in this fight.
“We are doing our best to put one foot in front of the other and not crumble,” she said.
On the front lines of testing, Tiffani says she has experienced our nationwide outpouring of thanks toward medical professionals. In the true spirit of our mission at Honor Flight Chicago, it is not unlike the thanks she receives when she is out in public in her uniform.
“We are getting thank yous from almost everyone who comes through (the facility),” she said. “It really is heartwarming. My personal experience in the military is that people have always been open and appreciative – people say thank you when they see me in uniform. I always tell them it is an honor to serve.
“Without my service, I wouldn’t have gotten the most amazing experiences in my life. I’m grateful even to be able to serve. A friend texted me and said ‘you are my hero,’ but I’m just doing my job. I’m a nurse!”
“We are getting thank yous from almost everyone who comes through (the facility). It really is heartwarming.”
