‘Heartbroken’: El Paso Nurse who worked with children dies after being diagnosed with coronavirus
(Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify that the nurse's family says she was diagnosed with the virus, but an official cause of death has not yet been disclosed.)
EL PASO, Texas -- A 33-year-old pediatric intensive care nurse at El Paso's Providence Children’s Hospital has died roughly two weeks after her family said she tested positive for the coronavirus.
“We are heartbroken by the loss of our friend and colleague Karla Dominguez, a young and gifted nurse," Providence spokeswoman Monique Poessiger told ABC-7. "She will truly be missed.”
Dominguez died after being hospitalized for nearly two weeks following her Covid-19 diagnosis, her family told the El Paso Times.
In a statement Friday, The Hospitals of Providence offered its' "thoughts and deepest sympathies" to her family, friends and co-workers.
It wasn't immediately known how Dominguez contracted the virus, but Poessiger said she had not cared for any coronavirus patients at the children's ICU where she had worked for the past five years.
The young nurse's father, a retired doctor himself, told the Times that his daughter tested positive for the virus and was hospitalized after experiencing severe migraine headaches.
Dr. Carlos Dominguez described his daughter to the Times as a "dedicated" nurse who took pride in caring for "her kids" at the children's hospital.
Friends offered similar remembrances in posts to an online obituary for Dominquez.
"Karla was dedicated to her patients and her profession and that’s something I have always admired," wrote Alissa Foulks, "but as her friend, it will be her playful nature and her kind heart that I will always miss."
