It’s a family affair Lurie Children’s: Parents, daughters bring dedication, care to busy Chicago hospital

CHICAGO — From top to bottom, they have Lurie Children’s covered. It’s a story that began four decades ago and grew into an all-hands-on deck effort. The Wydra family cares for the building, the patients inside — and each other. 

Sandy Wydra, RN, is part of Lurie Children’s Transport Team.

“When I very first started on the team, I had the craziest hours and all of my friends worked normal nine to five jobs,” she said. “So, somebody introduced their friend Al to me, and he had crazier hours than me.”

Al Wydra is a Lurie Children’s Building Automation Specialist.

“I would see her these weird shifts and I’d say, ‘Hey, how you doing?’” he said.

While Al kept the hospital running — a job he’s done for 44 years – Sandy took care of the sickest patients in the pediatric intensive care unit.

“It just became, ‘Do you want to go to Taste of Chicago?’ ‘Do you want to do this or that?’” she said. “So, for a couple of years, we were friends, but then in 1989 I married Al my pal.”

As they grew their careers, they grew a family, welcoming daughters Lauren and Jessica, who often got a behind-the-scenes look at their parents in action.

“In 1985, they decided they were going to start a dedicated transport team, and I thought that sounded like the ultimate challenge,” Sandy said. “So, I applied, and I was one of the founding members of the team.”

Daughter Lauren Mrozek, RN, is with Lurie Children’s Emergency Department. “I didn’t really understand what my mom did because she flew in helicopters,” she said.

As a nurse on the transport team, Sandy cared for the most critical patients brought to Children’s Memorial and eventually the hospital’s newer location downtown.

The 23-story tower’s mechanicals are Al’s babies.

Jessica Wydra, RN, is with Lurie Children’s Resource Team.

“Not many people can run the hospital like he does, and know the ins and outs so well, so it’s cool to be able to see him do that,” she said.

But Al and Sandy saw something in their girls.

“I always knew Lauren was going to be a nurse,” Al said.

“When she was little, I caught her doing CPR on her teddy,” Sandy said.

It was an easy choice for Lauren. “It was exciting, initially, when I first started,” she said. “I would see my mom bring patients in, so that was pretty exciting to see my mom in action.”

Ultimately, Jessica joined the family business a few years later – both followed in their parents’ footsteps to Lurie.

“It’s funny because sometimes I’ll be on the floors and I’ll hear him through the pagers or the walkie talkies, and I’m like, ‘That’s my dad!’” Jessica said.

“It’s sometimes funny when I’ll see in charting, I’ll see my sister’s name or my mom’s name,” Lauren said. “I’m like, ‘Hey, I know them.”

Still, not many people know the Wydra family story around the hospital.

“I don’t usually say that my whole family works here, especially starting off your career as a nurse you want to be known as an individual,” Lauren said. “But once you start getting to know somebody, and you give a little bit more of ‘My mom works here and my dad works here, too,’ they’re like, ‘Your whole family works here?’ Well, it’s a good place to work!”

Surprisingly, Al, Sandy and their girls don’t see each other very often at work, but the family of four is always there for each other.

“Nursing is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. It’s the most challenging job, but it’s also super rewarding,” Jessica said. “So those days where it’s really challenging and you might not be able to step away during the day, my family understands it. So, when you have those hard days you can go home, I can call my mom, I can call my sister, I can call my dad, and I know that they understand truly what it’s like.”

With their parents setting the example, Lauren and Jessica also plan to stick around Lurie for many decades.