Nursing student gives back to ECMC with winter clothing for psychiatric patients

In any honor roll of those in the UB community whose humanity and knowledge help the people they meet, add to that “A List” School of Nursing student Cara Wojtach.

Wojtach returned full time to the BS in nursing program this fall following a tragic car accident. She and several other UB students were critically injured when the car they were in collided with an Amherst police car Jan. 31 on Sheridan Drive near Sweet Home Road.

While on a clinical rotation in Erie County Medical Center’s 4 South psychiatric unit earlier this semester, Wojtach, 21, became concerned about patients’ need for winter clothes. She organized a clothing drive, reaching out to other students through online nursing chat rooms. Through drop-offs at her University Heights home or pickups, Wojtach gathered enough winter clothes to fill her SUV.

Last month, she contacted the charge nurse on ECMC 4 South and delivered the boxes of warm clothes. Wojtach also delivered a major helping of good will, earning “deepest gratitude and appreciation” from the hospital staff treating patients that nurses say are often far from the highest priority of the community and administration.

“Our staff is faced, on a daily basis, with the specter of those suffering from mental illness being either forgotten or not acknowledged,” ECMC charge nurse Katrina Ballard wrote in a letter to ECMC clinical instructor Nicole Niedzwiedz, who forwarded it to SON officials.

“A simple visual comparison between our floors and those of medicine illustrates the vast discrepancy in resource allocation between the two disciplines. Cara’s efforts illustrate a genuine concern for the patients with whom she interacted, and are in keeping with the high level of the care 4 South aims to provide.”

Ballard praised Wojtach for observing the need displayed by so many ECMC 4 South patients.

“Taking time out of her own schedule, Cara organized a clothing drive on the UB campus. Her efforts went well above and beyond that of the average nursing student. Especially with the seasons beginning to turn, these items will prove to be invaluable for so many of our less-fortunate patients.”

For Wojtach, the small campaign for ECMC South 4 has given her a sense of satisfaction at a time when her own ongoing struggle is very real.

“It was rewarding just knowing I could make a difference,” says Wojtach, who hopes to become a nurse anesthetist and whose family is from Suffolk County. “Even though it was nothing crazy, nothing big, it was good to know I could do something.”

That official appreciation and personal pride can only help Wojtach, still recovering from what she calls “the worst experience I have had in my life.” The accident reportedly occurred when the police car, responding to an in-progress call for service, collided with Wojtach’s car. She and four other UB students were taken to ECMC, all with serious injuries.

“It was very painful. I broke a lot of bones,” Wojtach says. “Mentally, this was also the hardest thing I had to experience in my life. I never had experienced depression or physical issues before. I just hated the way I looked afterward, and being in pain and not being able to sleep was difficult.”

Wojtach’s therapy to heal her ribs and pelvis continues. She has facial scars from glass falling in her face during the accident. She has come a long way, she says, but still receives injections for the scars and therapy for a deformity in her back.

Her present clinical assignment placed her in medical surgery at Sisters Hospital. But her empathy for the patients in ECME 4 South remains. She remembers the ECMC nurses introducing her to patients who lacked shoes and other basic supplies. Nurses on the floor would bring them clothes, trying to fill the void with their families.

“A lot of the patients on the floor had schizophrenia,” Wojtach says, “and they don’t have relations with their families because of their disease.

“It was upsetting to see how people can change through the day and be debilitated by their sickness. You could talk to them and they were happy, and two hours later, they were throwing things and thinking people are coming after them.”

Wojtach says the experience has helped her be more sympathetic to her patients. SON professors and supervisors have watched her work through her injuries and depression, which add to the difficulties of studying to be a nurse during the pandemic. They see her compassion and strength as nothing short of inspiring.

“She is such a testament to what great students we have. She is one who gave back to a place that helped her so much,” says Michele McKay, SON’s undergraduate clinical coordinator. “It really warmed my heart to read this letter from Katrina. It’s much needed with how unusual things have been.”