May 28, 2020

From healthcare workers and first responders to essential workers and everyone in between, our Cubs on the front line have proudly rallied as Men for and with Others and stepped up for their communities.

Listed below are a number of Loyola High alumni serving on the front lines (directly or indirectly) amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Take a minute to read the stories they have shared:

• Treasvant “Steve” Wynne ’80: Captain II, Fire Station 89 with LA Fire Department.
• Patrick Wecker ’82: For 22 of the last 29 years and throughout my career, I’ve delivered direct care in Emergency Department, Intensive Care and Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory settings. In March, procedures and surgeries in many California hospitals were suspended. This included Torrance Memorial. While the Cath Lab of course remained open for emergencies, from mid-March through the end of April, I dusted off my ICU skillset and supported fellow nurses in delivering care to the ventilated COVID-19 population, days and nights. Thankfully, blessedly, the kind of surge that was experienced in other parts of the country and world has not presented here, and as a result, since the beginning of May, procedures and surgeries have recommenced, with a slow and vigilant ramp-up anticipated.
• Roman Samiley ’88: I currently work at the Department of Veteran Affairs as a nurse practitioner in the Diabetes program. I have to go into the hospital everyday, but am not directly involved with COVID-19 patients for now.
• Steve Marquez ’90: Captain II, Operations South Bureau (OSB) with LA Fire Department.
• Philip Orocio ’92: I am a detective supervisor for the LAPD. I’m regularly assigned to our Employee Relations Group, but since March, I’ve been deployed to help keep a COVID-19 test site safe and secure.
• Charlie Wood ’96: On the COVID-19 front, I would not qualify myself as a “front line worker” by any means. However, I lead Strategy & Investor Relations at Meridian Bioscience in Cincinnati and our Life Science division makes the critical raw materials that go in diagnostic tests including those tests for SARS-CoV-2 (virus that causes COVID-19). We have enabled millions of tests around the globe through our 35+ partners and will be enabling millions more as the antibody tests our partners are manufacturing get distributed. 
• Michael Estrera ’97: I’m an anesthesiologist at Kaiser LA Medical Center just up the street from Loyola on Vermont and Sunset. I’ve been taking care of COVID-positive patients in our ICU and am happy to report that our patient census is currently manageable. 
• Jimmie Duffy ’98: Captain I, Risk Management Section (RMS) with LA Fire Department.
• Sloane Joseph ’98: Captain I, Operations South Bureau (OSB) with LA Fire Department.
• Bryan Dominguez ’98: Firefighter/Paramedic, Fire Station 5 with LA Fire Department.
• Karl Marzec MD ’99: An ER doctor at Palomar Hospital in San Diego, Karl has been around quite a bit of patients with COVID-19. Thankfully, he is doing well and their hospital has done a great job of treating these patients. 
• John King ’99: Firefighter, Fire Station 88 with LA Fire Department.
• Tim Widmann ’02: I am a Reserve Police Officer with LAPD. So far (thankfully), my stories are just regular patrol every couple of weeks or so.  
• Michael Siuta ’02: Paramedic and Fire Captain with the Henderson, Nevada Fire Department.
• Matt Leblanc ’03: Firefighter/Paramedic, Fire Station 20 with LA Fire Department.
• Kurt Cornejo ’04: I’m currently out here in Santa Monica as a firefighter continuing to respond to emergencies daily. 
• Donald Moe ’05: Front line worker (surgeon) in Tennessee.
• Michael Mercurio ’09: Although not directly on the coronavirus front line, my law firm (Dentons) and I have been assisting whiskey distilleries with the production of hand sanitizer, guiding them through the regulatory process and helping them with governmental guidance that seems to change every other day. Many of our clients have been donating this hand sanitizer to local governments and businesses and we have been helping them on that piece. I’m also part of my firm’s “SBA Disaster Relief Team” where we have been helping small businesses and non-profits navigate the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster loans. It’s been rewarding being able to use my legal training to help local businesses stay afloat and retain jobs for their employees.
• Nicholas Roque ’10: Front line worker at Healthcare Partners Urgent Care in Montebello, California.

If you, too, are working on the front line or know of a fellow classmate or member of the extended Cub family serving their community, we would love to hear from you.

Please send an email to Loyola Alumni Relations Manager Patrick Girardi ’99 at pgirardi@loyolahs.edu to let us know of your current profession so that we can update our Alumni database, and be sure to include the names and professions of anyone else that should be recognized.

To all of our Cubs, thank you. We salute you!