Frontline family: Mom and dad, their two adult children all work as nurses at Cedars-Sinai

Four members of the Rue family - two parents and their two adult children - all work as nurses at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Wednesday, May 13, 2020
LA family of nurses on front lines of COVID-19
Four members of the Rue family - two parents and their two adult children - all work as nurses at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- They are a family of healthcare heroes. Four nurses at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles are not just co-workers - they're also family.

Melissa Rue, her father Gregg Rue, mother Carmen Rue and her brother Mark Rue. They've all worked at Cedars-Sinai for more than 10 years.

"It's nice to know we have support in the hospital, but we actually never see each other face-to-face," said Melissa Rue, an ICU nurse at Cedars-Sinai.

Dad works in radiology. Mom in the operating room. Mark Rue in the cardiothoracic unit. Melissa Rue in the COVID-designated ICU. Mark and Carmen Rue occasionally work with coronavirus patients as well.

"With patients coming in with COVID-19 everyone has presented so differently. I've had to second-guess my skills set because I don't even know if it applies to this current population. It's hectic every day and the unknown is what's scary," said Melissa Rue.

"I would be texting Melissa every day trying to update me on what she's seeing, what she's dealing with, the stress she's been through," said Mark Rue, a nurse at Cedars-Sinai.

They also worry about their parents contracting the virus.

"I social distanced myself so I actually haven't seen my parents in the last two months," said Melissa Rue.

Their parents were born in the Philippines. Both have been nurses for more than 30 years and encouraged their kids to follow in their footsteps. They moved to California from New Jersey in 2009.

While the community recognizes National Nurses Week, the Rues urge people to help nurses by continuing to follow the rules, like social distancing.

"You really still need to be careful. We need to really trust the scientists and all these things because there's still so much unknown," said Mark Rue.

The four recently marked some family milestones. The family matriarch turned 64 on Friday. And the couple celebrated 35 years of marriage on Mother's Day.