BUFFALO, N.Y. — Friendship can be all it takes to get through hard times — as registered nurses Miranda Florek and Lateya Johnson know.

What You Need To Know

  • Lateya Johnson and Miranda Florek studied and graduated together from D'Youville College

  • They both went straight to work at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center during the pandemic

  • Their friendship taught them how to connect with patients who were isolated from loved ones

“We met during nursing school,” said Florek. “I forced friendship on Lateya.”

The two completed their nursing degrees at D’Youville College in spring 2020, taking many of the same classes and having the same clinicals as one another.

“We went to Panera every day and just studied,” said Florek. “That was our whole friendship.”

But the challenges didn’t stop after graduation. Johnson and Florek went straight to work at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and their floor quickly began housing quarantined COVID-19 patients. The two newly working nurses leaned on each other to get through it.

“If both of us were like, ‘I just wanna quit. I don’t wanna do this anymore.’ It was just nice to have somebody there for support all the time,” said Johnson. 

Neither of them quit, and now they use their relationship-building skills to bond with patients who may not have visitors as often as they’d like.

“I think it’s important too, to not let them feel like they’re just a patient,” said Florek. “Like just go in there and have a casual conversation about their day, or like what they’re favorite activity is at home. It can really make a difference.”

They two are on opposite shifts, but still lean on one another when necessary.