All In

As Katie Bertoa neared her last season with the Sussex women's soccer program, one thing remained clear to Coach Frank Vernacchio about Katie. Vernacchio said "She was all in from the time she started playing for me. One of the greatest things about Katie is her dedication to the team her progress as a player." Katie, who played goalie during her time at Sussex, accomplished quite a lot. From playing with no ACL to winning a Regional Championship, Bertoa would certainly be leaving a great legacy behind at Sussex.

Now as Katie starts the next chapter in her life, she is taking a lot of what she learned at Sussex with her. Bertoa said, "One of the biggest things that being a part of the Sussex soccer team has taught me, in regards to helping in my field, is how to be resilient. You have to not let anything that comes at you affect you. Working in the Emergency Room, you never know who is going to come in and what's going to happen. My shift is usually 12 hours long and, especially towards the end of the shift, you feel the exhaustion kick in. A patient could come in at any time and they can be really sick. This is where you will have to go into 'overtime,' in order to care of them as if you just started your shift and not let the exhaustion affect you. Teamwork has also helped me as well because everyone has their own role in helping with patients and if everyone does not do their part efficiently, it can be life or death for a patient."

Bertoa has started working at Hackettstown Hospital. During this pandemic, Bertoa has talked about the adjustments she has had to make. "There are a lot of precautions that we have to take because of this virus. You have to gown up for almost every patient in full protective equipment (which includes a gown, gloves, N95 mask, another mask on top of that, a scrub cap, and a face shield and goggles)." Regardless of what is happening and may happen in the future, Katie always focuses on why she wanted to get into the medical field in the first place by saying, "the best thing about this job is being able to help patients feel better and seeing the look of gratification on their faces. You are making a difference in other's lives. Just being able to make them smile or laugh while providing the best care I can give definitely makes my job worth it."

From the soccer field to the emergency room, Katie has, and will continue, to make a difference. When asked what type of advice you would give to others seeking this profession, Katie talked first about all the benefits from education to the joy of taking care of others, but she ended it with saying "Just know it is a lot of work and you have to be able to give your all, all of the time and not just when you want to." In other words, you better make sure you are ALL IN!