Honorary 2021 Homecoming Chair Eva Lozano (’04)

In a salute to professionals who have been battling the COVID-19 pandemic over the past 20 months, nurse Eva Lozano (’04) will represent health care alumni as honorary chair of this year’s homecoming celebration. Homecoming committee members selected Lozano for the honor because, they said, her work exemplifies the courage, compassion and dedication displayed by front-line health care personnel whose efforts they want to acknowledge.

Honorary 2021 Homecoming Chair Eva Lozano ('04) is a clinical lead in the medical intensive care unit (ICU) at Sharp Memorial Hospital in Kearny Mesa. (photo courtesy Eva Lozano)

“Over the past year-plus, so many of our alumni in health-related fields have been going above and beyond during the pandemic and we thought it was important to recognize them,” said Homecoming Committee Member Jen Ranallo. “Eva embodies everything that makes us proud of these alumni and she is perfect to represent them and all SDSU alumni as our 2021 honorary homecoming chair.”

Lozano is a clinical lead in the medical intensive care unit (ICU) at Sharp Memorial Hospital in Kearny Mesa. She said she is “very honored and very excited” to serve as honorary homecoming chair.

Lozano will be accompanied by her husband, Leo, their three children and her parents at the Nov. 13 Aztecs homecoming football game at Dignity Health Sports Park Stadium in Carson, where she will be introduced to the crowd during halftime. “We are really looking forward to it,” she said.

THE COOLEST THING

Growing up in El Centro where her grandmother was a nurse, Lozano learned how to dress wounds and would practice giving injections to fruits and vegetables while following grandma’s instructions. “I just thought that was the coolest thing ever,” she said. “I knew I wanted to go into the medical field.”

At San Diego State, Lozano learned just what it would take to meet some of the greatest challenges of her career. “State taught you to use your clinical skills, think critically, keep calm, use your time management skills - just everything,” she said.

Lozano (center) enjoys a merrier moment with colleagues. (photo courtesy Eva Lozano)

“Communication was a huge component of COVID because you were paging the doctors a lot, having those conversations with them about how a patient was doing, and how your interventions were working or not working. Being able to advocate for your patient was critical and they taught me that at State.”

Lozano said some of the best years of her life were spent at the university.  She said many of the seemingly basic things her “amazing” SDSU professors taught her came back to her with increasing urgency as the pandemic unfolded.

“You think about how even something as simple as hand hygiene and donning your PPE (personal protective equipment) and doffing your PPE and all this infection prevention stuff comes to mind from your schooling,” she said. “For me it was a long time ago, but it was definitely front and center during these stressful times.”

DOING WHATEVER IT TAKES

The past 20 months have indeed been challenging, Lozano admits. “Kind of a roller coaster” is how she describes the early days of the pandemic when ICU capacity had to be expanded to accommodate the influx of COVID-19 patients.

“In the beginning, you were kind of scared out of your mind because you really didn’t know what was happening,” Lozano said. “A lot of us were working extra shifts (because) you just do whatever it takes. You run on adrenaline and you have it in you to give the energy.

Lozano (left) works with an MICU patient at Sharp Memorial Hospital in Kearny Mesa. (photo courtesy Eva Lozano/San Diego Union Tribune)

“You feel compassion for these patients. The most heartbreaking thing is some were so sick and we knew they were going to pass and there was nothing else we could do, but just keep trying everything we could.”

Adrenaline, however, eventually becomes harder to muster with each new surge in the pandemic. “Honestly, I hate to say it, but we are exhausted and we know it is caregiver fatigue,” Lozano said.

Still, Lozano added, she and her colleagues are care givers first and foremost. They rely on each other to keep their spirits up and help develop coping strategies.

“You learn to enjoy your days off even more, your family, your running, whatever you are into because that gives you the energy to go back to work and give everything you have to these patients because that’s what they deserve.”

A MESSAGE FOR ALUMNI AND AZTECS FANS

For Lozano, it’s running that helps relieve the stress. She plans to participate in the Nov. 13 5K FunRun on campus.

Lozano with husband Leo after running the San Diego Track Club Socially Distant Half Marathon June 5, 2021. (photo courtesy Eva Lozano)

Although participation in the event is not part of her official duties as honorary homecoming chair, “that’s right up my alley,” she said. “I love to run.”

With regard to walking onto a football field and being introduced to thousands of Aztecs fans, Lozano is less certain of what to expect. “If nothing else, it will probably be an awesome experience that my kids will likely never forget,” she said.

Regardless of what she may be feeling in that moment, there is something Lozano would like everyone to keep in mind about her and the thousands of health care alumni she will be representing as honorary homecoming chair:

“It has been a big year,” she said. “We have been through the whole gamut of emotions.

“If I could, I want to tell everybody about the health care workers and how great of a job they are doing. The nurses I work with are so incredibly giving. They are really just doing the best they can and they give so much of themselves in their work. I’m very honored to represent them.”

If you are a health care professional who attended San Diego State, sign up to receive a complimentary SDSU Alumni badge reel and Aztecs spear logo buff at sdsualumni.org/homecomingchairgiveaway!