The etymology of the word “profession” has Latin roots: “professionem,” meaning “public declaration,” or “profiteri” meaning “declare openly.” This is how Cj Gribble, Spokane Community Colleges nursing instructor, describes why she goes into hospitals to teach as a 73-year-old.

“Nursing has always been on the front lines,” said Gribble, a Spokane Community Colleges nursing instructor. “Eighteen years running in the Gallup poll nursing is ranked the most trusted profession by Americans, and that’s certainly because we understand duty.”

Because of her age, Gribble falls into the high-risk category for COVID-19, significantly increasing the degree of severity if she were to contract the novel coronavirus and decreasing her probability of survival.

Gribble knows what dying on a ventilator means, having sat bedside with family members of patients when that was all that was left to do: her duty.

“And now it’s alone but for the medical staff whose hearts are broken,” Gribble said. “Know that we never forget these deaths. I took care of the first HIV patient and the first toxic shock patient in Spokane. I still think about them.”

Gribble willingly enters the belly of the beast, as do many others who fall into high-risk categories, whose work has been deemed essential.

It’s what nurses have always done, Gribble said. Some nurses in particular have been on her mind: Gribble did her master’s thesis at Gonzaga University on the 1918 flu.

“I’m very happy to be working at this point in time because of the way nursing responded to that particular flu before we even knew what it was,” Gribble said.

Gribble spoke with pride of Ethel Butts, the Deaconess nurse who managed the makeshift quarantine hospital in the Lion Hotel for the 1918 pandemic’s duration, without pay.

“We have a good history,” Gribble said. “So I’m happy to do this, and certainly I’ll be really careful.”

No one in the high-risk category can be required to work; Gov. Jay Inslee signed the “High Risk Employees – Workers’ Rights” proclamation on April 13 mandating employers to provide safe accommodations for high-risk employees, such as working remotely. If such adjustments are not feasible, the employer must allow the worker to use any available accrued time off and not prevent the worker from filing for unemployment.

If the employer needs to temporarily replace the worker, it must allow for the worker to come back permanently once conditions are safe, and maintain the employee’s health insurance. The conditions apply until June 12, but can be extended.

Inslee defined “high risk” using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines: People 65 years or older, those with moderate to severe asthma, chronic lung disease, diabetes, serious heart conditions, chronic kidney disease, liver disease, severe obesity, those living in a nursing home or long-term care facility and the immunocompromised.

Stephen Yates, 65, is a custodian for nonprofit Daybreak Youth Services, and he wants to be there for the young women receiving treatment.

“I still get to interact with the girls, and the girls are a lot of fun,” Yates said. “They’ve been through a lot of trauma. I have a good working relationship with them, and I’m able to present a positive male role model.”

Yates had worked for Daybreak as a skills coach for seven years, but when his wife died a year and a half ago, the work became too high pressure and emotional. Daybreak offered him the custodian position. Yates believes that with consistent therapy, patients can overcome their trauma and addiction. Recovery is something he’s been through himself as a former heroin addict.

“I’ve done a little time in prison over 30 years ago,” Yates said. “With a record like mine, you either drive a tow truck or you work in recovery. And I did both. … I love working in recovery because it’s something I know and I know it really well. I love working with people and seeing them come out of the depths of hell.”

Yates worries about getting the coronavirus. In fact, on April 16 he went to Mann-Grandstaff Veterans Affairs Medical Center at his son’s insistence because he had a cough and was fatigued. He was tested, and the test came back negative. Even if he does become sick, Yates is at peace with that.

“Don’t take this pessimistic, but at my age, and after becoming a Christian, I’m pretty healthy, but I’m not going to get any healthier and I would just rather be healthy on Earth, or go to heaven,” Yates said.

Health care isn’t the only field in which essential workers who are at risk continue to report for duty. Malissa Schmitz delivers for GrubHub and Uber Eats, despite her doctor’s objection. She is younger than 65 but does have chronic asthma and is on medication that compromises her immune system.

There are a variety of reasons she chooses to take the risk, and she was able to placate her doctor because of the multiple precautions she’s taking in her work.

Schmitz had asthma attacks in November, December, January and February but not in March, and she credits this to how careful she’s being. Schmitz is going out of her way to guard her mental health. She suffers from depression and anxiety, and she thinks the 12 hours a week she’s out driving helps alleviate that. She also enjoys helping others who might be going through something similar.

“There’s a lot of people who cannot go and get their own food, and sometimes I’m the only person they see besides the people in their house,” Schmitz said. “I try to bring smiles and a little bit of laughter and good food and whatnot to try and brighten up their day.”

There is a financial aspect to her decision as well. Also the owner of Pawing Around Pet Boutique, Schmitz sells pet clothes.

“I lost all my income that I would have gotten from all of my craft events and street fairs that we normally do, so I’m trying to supplement that and do that with food delivery,” Schmitz said.

Brenda Sleeper, 73, who has worked in a Walmart bakery and deli department for three years, said stopping work hadn’t crossed her mind. After she retired, she took care of her grandchildren after school, but she came out of retirement when they were done with school.

“I just figured if I’m going to catch it, I’m going to catch it no matter what I do, you know,” Sleeper said of COVID-19. “It’s just inevitable, one way or the other.”

Sleeper said she didn’t have any coworkers who opted to stop working, and many of them are older than 65.

They continue to work because “people need them, you know,” Sleeper said. “They have to eat, they have to have essentials. The elderly have a different work ethic than the younger generation does.”

Sleeper said customers have appreciated Walmart workers in a way they hadn’t before, telling them “thank you” from a distance.

“Never got that before ever, you know,” Sleeper said. “It’s made a change, and people have stopped to think now about everything, not just who’s taking care of them, but everything in life.”