Fresno nurse who was ‘caring and passionate to others’ dies of COVID-19 complications

A Fresno nurse at Community Regional Medical Center died from complications of COVID-19, the hospital announced.

Oliver Isleta, a registered nurse in the CRMC Telemetry Unit, passed away Tuesday, according to the chief operating officer’s message to staff.

“It is with indescribable sadness that I share the tragic loss of a very special member of our team, Oliver Isleta,” COO Craig Wagoner wrote to the staff. “I want to express my sincerest condolences to his family and to Oliver’s Community family who worked closest with him.

“You’ve suffered a tremendous loss and there are no words to adequately acknowledge your grief.”

Isleta, 58, is the first CRMC staff member to die due to the novel coronavirus and at least the second nurse in Fresno to succumb to COVID-19.

In May, Kaiser Fresno Medical Center nurse Sandra “Sandy” Oldfield died from coronavirus after caring for infected patients.

It was not immediately known how Isleta contracted the virus.

His nephew Julo Santamarina said in a Facebook message that Isleta had been battling COVID-19 for the past two months and was in the intensive care unit.

“He was in the ICU for most of those months and couldn’t be visited by any relative,” Santamarina said. “It was sad that he was alone.

“We and other relatives were constantly contacted by the nurse thru Zoom.”

A native of the Philippines, Isleta had lived in the United States for more than a decade, including in Fresno the past couple of years.

Isleta initially was an engineer while he lived in the Philippines but decided to become a nurse due to the high demand for nurses in the United States, his nephew said.

“It suited him well, being all caring and passionate to others,” Santamarina said. “Being a nurse really was his calling.”

Santamarina said the family was blindsided by Isleta’s passing despite his lengthy battle against COVID-19.

“To be honest, we weren’t really expecting him to be gone,” Santamarina said. “Because from our last video call, he was giving us a thumbs up. So we were hoping he was responding well with the meds and all.

“But during our last zoom call with him, I think he was on life support and that was the only thing keeping him alive.”

Isleta is survived by his wife Jeanette and son Matthew Raphael.

This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 6:47 PM.