Maia Lee capped her collegiate basketball career helping the Towson University women's basketball team win the 2019 CAA Championship.
 
Just over a year later, Lee has found herself working in her field, one that is directly impacted by the Coronavirus Pandemic.
 
"My job is an assistant administrator," Lee said. "I've been primarily in social work, administrative, doing cognitive assessments, behavioral assessments, stuff like that. I'm pretty much everywhere and they utilize me everywhere. I started in September so it's been about eight months."
 
Lee majored in geriatric psychology and currently works at a skilled nursing facility in Towson. She began working there shortly after completing her master's degree in the summer of 2019.
 
As she has always wanted to get into the healthcare field, the turn of events leading to the pandemic that currently has areas and states on lockdown throughout the country has changed her job quite a bit.
 
"Every time I go to work I wear an N95 mask, goggles, face shield, hair covering, full gown, it's a lot," she said. "You sweat so much when you are in it. As soon as I get home through the door, I put my clothes in a specific section and my shoes; I don't want it to go through the entire house, so it's crazy that I have to do that now. It's a lot more important to do it than it was before, and I take a shower immediately when I get home."
 
While working at this nursing facility, she has gotten her feet wet in several areas of the field. Of course illnesses happen all the time, but the restrictions necessary and what has transpired simply because of this virus has brought on an entirely different situation to her work life.
 
"It's been really tough, I think the most tough part is seeing how the world isn't taking it seriously," Lee said. "It's so serious when it comes to our facility, because people are dying. It's really affecting people, people with underlying conditions, who are at this skilled nursing facility. Also, it is sad to see it's not being taken seriously while people are losing their lives. It's upsetting to me. People's moms and dads, they can only see them through a screen; that is the only way they get to say goodbye, it's not how life should be."
 
This is a challenging time for Lee, her coworkers, and all those working in healthcare and on the front lines. Her job at this facility means a lot to her and has a close connection to her family. Lee's father spent the last part of his life there.
 
"A lot of people don't know that my dad was actually in the facility I work at," she said. "He passed away in January, just being in this job and being able to have him there, because I couldn't take care of him myself, I think that's what kind of pushed me to go into the geriatric world. I have my degree in geriatric psychology, this is my population, there wouldn't be any other way."
 
She explained that while she always knew she wanted to help others, work in a nursing facility and be in healthcare, the experience has been so much different than she thought it would be.
 
"Deaths are normal, when people get sick that is normal; outside of the healthcare world people perceive it differently," she said. "Now though, when I go to work, there's no saying I won't get Covid or Coronavirus; there's no saying that if I do get sick it won't affect my body with a negative impact. I think about that daily, just because you are healthy doesn't mean you will be okay if you get it. I never thought in my mind that I would be in a job where I'm putting my life on the line daily."
 
In the last few weeks the illness has come to her place of work for the first time since the pandemic began. While Lee has only been there for less than a year, she had seen the flu come around during flu season, so having an "outbreak" of an illness wasn't new to her.
 
"When this started it was an adjustment, but not too crazy, because we do have outbreaks of other infections and contagious diseases," she said. "I think because we had our first case and then multiple cases it just got really crazy when that happened. That was in the past two weeks, before we didn't have any cases and then it just hit our building by storm. It's healthcare, that's the biggest thing I'm trying to get used to."
 
Even with all that is going on, Lee remains positive in her affirmation that she is where she is meant to be.
 
She said that with their stories and life lessons to share, the geriatric population is very knowledgeable. The relationships she has built with the residents there have made this season a difficult one, but what she is doing there is her contribution to help.
 
"I feel like a lot of people don't really focus on that population," Lee said. "So I feel like I'm doing something. I feel like I'm helping, like I'm bringing families together, so that's my favorite part."
 
Bringing families together looks a lot different these days.
 
"I think that's been a big adjustment for family members as well," she said. "Some of them would come every day and now they cannot even see their family member unless it's on a phone. There are issues with that too because some people can't use a phone like that for cognitive reasons. That's been pretty difficult, and I can't say when this is going to end and they can come see their loved ones, because we don't know."
 
Looking back on where she was this time last year, ending her master's degree and entering the workforce shortly after, Lee had a nugget of advice to give this year's graduating class.
 
"My advice I would have would be don't pressure yourself to get a high-paying job right out of college. Don't pressure yourself too much. Once you end college it doesn't mean you stop learning either."
 
Lee will continue showing up for the people she serves at the skilled nursing facility. Not only is her job important, but it means a lot to her to be able to help them.
 
Things may not be the best right now with the current world situation, and she feels that, but she will go on.
 
"It's like a mix of frustration and sadness," she said. "I get sad about it because these are people that I've met and seen for a long time, almost every day, so it's difficult. We honor them and their lives, but it's hard."