Mallory Stanislawczyk is a Primary Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in Maryland, USA, mother, wife, photography enthusiast and COVID Long Hauler. She completed her undergraduate nursing education at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. After completing her education, she moved back to Philadelphia, PA where she worked at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as a nurse on their respiratory unit. Mallory worked with kids inside and outside of the hospital as a nurse, moving from hospital-based nursing to home-care of medically complex children who required round the clock nursing at home for various needs like g-tube feedings, home ventilator and tracheostomy care, and more. It was here that she fell in love with primary care and the idea of holistic care.
She completed her Masters in Nursing at Villanova University in PA in 2016 before moving to Maryland to work as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. She has worked with various populations and settings in primary care. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Mallory joined the Maryland Medical Corp. in preparation to help with pandemic efforts in addition to what she was already doing at her clinic. In December 2020, Mallory contracted SARS-CoV-2, not from a patient or anyone in the healthcare setting, but from her 18-month-old daughter who had been unknowingly exposed by a family friend who was unaware of her previous exposure, unaware that she was pre-symptomatic and contagious. Despite treating patients regularly who were positive for the virus at work, Mallory had appropriate PPE including a well-fitting N-95 mask that helped protect her from contracting COVID-19 at work.
Both Mallory and her daughter had relatively mild cases of COVID-19. No hospitalizations. No pneumonia. Both became Long Haulers. Mallory attempted to return to work after 10 days but soon found that she was unable to work due to shortness of breath, dizziness, fatigue and brain fog. Mallory has been unable to work in clinic as a pediatric nurse practitioner since January 2021.
Since then, Mallory has devoted her time to caring for her daughter, healing, and raising awareness about Long COVID. She is the pediatric advisor for Awareness for Potsies, as well as MaskTogetherAmerica, and runs an Instagram page for advocacy and education on COVID-19 and Long COVID. Mallory supports MaskTogetherAmerica in their continuous efforts to disseminate information about the efficacy of masking and the importance of prevention efforts related to SARS-CoV-2 and other dangerous viruses — helping our country normalize mitigation and community care. As Benjamin Franklin once said “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” and for Long COVID, there is currently no cure.
