First responder, nurse dies after contracting COVID-19

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    IXONIA, Wis. (WISN) — A Wisconsin fire department and community are mourning the death of a first responder from COVID-19 on Thanksgiving.

Capt. Kelly Raether was a member of the Ixonia Fire Department.

The 42-year-old also worked as a nurse and college professor.

Coworkers believe she contracted the virus while on a call caring for a patient.

Her sister said Raether’s warm smile her came with a side of sass.

Raether embraced a life of service.

“She was able to calm people down and get them to understand all of the processes and procedures that were going to be occurring,” Ixonia fire Chief Dave Schilling said.

He was with Raether on an ambulance run last month.

They learned a day later the patient tested positive for COVID-19.

“Myself and my other partner, we were OK and she was the one that ended up testing positive,” Schilling said.

Raether was hospitalized a few days later and her condition kept getting worse.

“(I) talked to her on the phone quite a bit, a lot of text messaging back and forth,” Schilling said. “She was absolutely convinced that she was going to go into the hospital, get straightened out, and come back out again and go about her normal life again.”

Starting in 2016, that desire to share her knowledge led her to Carroll University’s nursing school where she taught the next generation of nurses.

“They’d all been keeping her in their prayers and thoughts and yeah, this was pretty devastating for them,” Nursing Chair Dr. Teri Kaul said.

Raether also continued to work in the emergency room at Aurora Medical Center in Hartford.

“We are forever grateful for Kelly’s bravery and unwavering commitment to serve our patients on the front lines of this pandemic,” Aurora Medical Center said in a statement to WISN 12 News.

Raether put herself in the coronavirus crosshairs not by going to parties or bars but endangered her life to help others.

“She was awesome,” Kaul said.

Schilling said hers was considered a line-of-duty death.

“(Her) locker will remain empty. I’m not gonna replace (her). No one is going to be going into that locker,” he said.

Raether will be laid to rest Saturday in Ixonia.

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