Holly Vilione, a critical care nurse with North Memorial Health Hospital, scratched an itch for Hillary Lowell, a COVID-19 patient who was removed from her ventilator Thanksgiving morning in the South Seven Intensive Care Unit.

Holly Vilione, in a quiet moment, took a deep breath as she prepared to return to her COVID patients in the ICU after a short lunch break.

Critical care nurse Holly Vilione and Deb Ulrich, of Norwood Young America, comforted each other as Deb visited her husband Rick, 60, for the first time since his hospitalization with COVID-19. Vilione had been caring for her husband for weeks and was constantly updating Deb over the phone. He was being transferred out of the ICU for rehabilitation that morning.

Holly Vilione looked on as her daughters Nora, 2, Mya, 6 and husband, Chris Vilione, snacked in the kitchen a few hours after Holly returned from another difficult day working in the ICU.

Holly Vilione, center, took a photo with fellow critical care nurses in South Seven after they made signs celebrating the return home of a former patient of theirs, Rick Ulrich, who spent nearly a month in their care and went through rehabilitation following his battle with COVID-19.

Holly Vilione wiped away tears as she waited 15 minutes after receiving her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination in late December. She had just finished reading an emotional note from the daughter of one of her patients, who survived a weeks-long battle with the disease in the South Seven ICU.

Holly Vilione waited to cross the street back to her car after finishing a shift in the ICU at North Memorial Friday, Jan. 29, 2021.