Like everyone, I am so grateful
for the brave health care
professionals on the
frontlines with this pandemic
every single day.
Take a look at this
group of nurses
from Thomas Jefferson University
Hospital in Philadelphia.
[MUSIC - CIARA, "LEVEL UP"]
Five, four, three, two, one.
Leggo!
Level up, level up, level
up, level up, level up.
Level up, level up, level
up, level up, level up.
All this on me, so yummy.
All this, oh so yummy.
You know you want this yummy.
They call themselves
the Swab Squad.
Hey, you guys.
[CLAPPING]
[CHEERING]
Hi.
I am so excited to see you.
I bet you're excited, too.
I just can't see
through the masks.
But I hope you're smiling
behind those masks.
All right.
Swab Squad, I think I know
what it is, but explain
what that means exactly.
Yes.
Hey, Ellen.
I'm Jeff Doucette.
I'm the chief nurse here at
Thomas Jefferson University
Hospital.
And I get the privilege
of representing
these amazing nurses.
[CHEERING]
And they affectionately
become known as the Swab Squad
because we were the first
drive-through testing site here
in Philadelphia for COVID-19.
And this amazing
team of people, who
are trained nurses that
go all over the hospital,
depending on what
the need are, never
really get to work
together as a team.
And one of the most important
things that you've heard about
is people staying at home
when they're not feeling well.
And so what this team
has been able to do
is test over 2000 people
and get them at home
where they need to recover.
And so this team
has come together
and formed this amazing
family that has really
kept this community safe.
And we are so incredibly
proud of them and everything
that they're doing.
[APPLAUSE]
I am proud and amazed
by what you're doing.
You're testing people every day.
That must be so scary.
I know it's your job, but
this is like nothing anybody
has ever experienced.
How scary is that
for y'all to do that?
Hi, Ellen.
My name's JoAnn.
I'm one of the critical care
nurses here at Jefferson.
It's very scary.
We go out, we don't know
which patients are positive,
which aren't.
They're coughing in our faces.
We're trying to stay safe.
But on the other
hand, we're nurses.
We're here to inform our
anxious patients, let them know
what to do, what steps to take.
And that we're reassuring
them all the time
that it's going to be OK.
[APPLAUSE]
You know how much we all are
appreciative of nurses anyway,
but I think this
is really making
everyone aware of what
a heroic job this is
at a time like this.
And you have each
other to lean on,
and I know that's important.
But I want to talk
about the dance.
So Level Up, first of
all, I love that song.
I love Ciara.
But why did y'all pick that?
Hi, Ellen.
I'm Jeff Salvatore.
I am the site coordinator for
the drive-through testing.
And I think the nurses can
say that I kind of hold them
to a high standard--
[LAUGHTER]
And this is a very
scary time, and we're
all nervous and feeling a
bunch of different emotions.
But at 8:00 when we open,
I need you to level up,
and I need you to get out
there and test our patients.
So every morning we
kind of come together
and we talk and
boost ourselves up
on how we're going to be
able to 8-5 stay focused,
and do our job and take
care of these patients.
And Level Up just
has that message
and we listen to it often in the
morning to boost ourselves up.
And the response has
been amazing, right?
Yes.
And Ciara reposting us was
just absolutely unbelievable.
We were closing up shop that
day and one of the M.A.s
told us that Ciara posted us,
and we just lost our miinds.
[LAUGHTER]
And then everybody that's been
commenting or reposting it,
it's just been really
keeping our morale high
and helping us get
through these times.
You know, it is
something like that.
Just a little bit of joy,
a little bit of lightness
that you all came
together and put that
together spreads it out.
And everybody responded to it.
Obviously, that's why
I'm talking to you
and you're on my show today.
But Ciara--
[APPLAUSE]
And Ciara has a little something
to say, so she, she sent this.
Hey, guys.
What's up?
It's Ciara here, and I
just want to say thank you
so much from the
bottom of my heart
to the nurses at Thomas
Jefferson University Hospital,
the original Swab Squad.
You guys are doing something
so amazing and so special.
You are giving the world joy
in a time when we need it
by dancing and leveling up.
Your Level Up
challenge was amazing,
and I want to encourage
you guys to keep
on going strong because
we're all in this together.
And I have someone else here
who wants to say thank you
so much as well.
What's up squad?
You guys keep leveling up,
and keep doing your thing.
Keep making a difference.
[? Y'all ?] are the true,
true heroes.
My mom's helping out
in Seattle too as well.
So I'm grateful for you all,
to every nurse, every doctor.
To everybody who's helping.
Everyone.
We love you all.
We love you all.
Keep it going.
Keep leveling up.
Keep it going.
Keep leveling up.
Level up.
Ellen, love you too.
Ellen, love you.
Level up.
Bye, guys.
[APPLAUSE]
Oh my god.
How great was that?
[CHEERING]
All right.
We're going to take
a little break,
and then I'm going to come
back more with Swab Squad
after this.
All right.
We're back with the
incredible nurses
from Thomas Jefferson University
Hospital in Philadelphia.
You're on the frontlines
every single day.
And some of you, I know--
what I'm hearing, like
the shifts are so long,
and it's exhausting anyway
without them being even
longer than they normally are.
And you're not even getting
to see your families because
of this quarantine.
What is that like?
Hi, I'm Mary.
It's hard.
But with them being
part of my family
and helping me
support through this,
it's very even slowly going.
But I do miss my kids, but
they make me work every day.
And they push me,
and they comfort me.
When we have a moment,
we sit down and talk.
It's about to make me cry.
Without them, I don't
think I could make it.
They're my new family, and I
would never change anything.
Aw.
We love you.
Hey, Ellen.
I'm Leslie.
I'm also one of the
critical care nurses,
and I just want to touch on that
a little bit about this family
that we have made in each other.
I had an experience last
week when I found out
that the day had
come that I was back
in the medical ICU,
basically the epicenter
of the COVID positive patients
needing ICU level of care.
I was scared, and I just reached
out in our group chat and said,
hey, guys, I'm going to the
M.I.C.U. today, and I'm scared.
And every single one of them
responded immediately, and just
giving me words
of encouragement.
Jill, and Olga, and Meredith,
who I tease and call
my older sister now.
They all just lifted
me up and helped
me just get through my day.
And I knew I could
take it on, and I
could do what we
were here for is
to take care of these patients.
So it just meant so much.
We love you.
[APPLAUSE]
Well, you've formed
a brand new--
not that you didn't
have a bond before,
but you've formed
a brand new family.
And you're all
soldiers, and you're
doing things that all of us
would be scared to death to do.
But you're like, well, this
is my job and I'm doing it.
And it's incredible, so I
wanted to just talk to you
and tell you how much
you mean to all of us.
I'm just one voice that's
going to say everyone
feels this way about you.
We appreciate you.
We love you.
Don't think that there's not a
minute and a day of what you're
doing with those people that you
don't have millions of people
grateful for you and
every single thing.
Just know how we feel about
you, and how grateful we are.
One thing I want to do is, I
don't know if you've heard,
I have a thing on my show we
call 12 Days of Giveaways.
It's a little thing
we do at Christmas,
and we give stuff away.
Anyway, you may
have heard about it.
So when we're able to
get back into the studio,
I'm going to dedicate one
of the 12 Days of Giveaways
to all the people
on the front lines.
And I'm inviting each of
you to come to California
to be at that show for
12 Days of Giveaways.
[CHEERING]
All right.
One more thing that I
want to give the hospital.
I know you set up a
COVID-19 Better Together
fund to help employees
struggling financially.
Our friends at Shutterfly
love what you're doing,
and they want to donate
$50,000 to that fund.
[CHEERING]
I am sending you so much love.
And again, just know
when you're there,
and it's the hardest
moment, the hardest day,
you haven't seen
your family, know
how many people
are thinking of you
and thanking you and
sending you love.
All right?
[APPLAUSE]
All right.
We'll be right back.
Hi, I'm Andy.
Ellen asked me to remind you
to subscribe to her channel
so you can see more
awesome videos,
like videos of me getting scared
or saying embarrassing things,
like ball peen hammer, and
also some videos of Ellen
and other celebrities if
you're into that sort of thing.
Ha!
[BLEEP] God [BLEEP]
