New superheroes mural in downtown Fresno spotlights veteran nurse. She’s from Ukraine
Within 300 feet of Fresno’s downtown hospital, a mural of superheroes was painted recently to honor nurses and other front-line medical professions.
There’s Spider-Man, Batman, Ironman and Thor.
As well as Captain America and Black Panther and even one more.
At the center of the colorful mural at the corner of Divisadero and Diana streets is a nurse dressed in blue scrubs.
She wears her own type of face mask to help protect others, especially those that she loves.
“It’s an ode to our nurses and a tribute to our essential and necessary workers,” said graffiti artist Eric Drane, who painted the superhero mural in one week and completed it earlier this month. “They sacrificed so much and put themselves at risk during all the COVID.”
While the mural is more about nurses and front-line medical professions in general who dealt with the sick during the coronavirus pandemic, the woman behind the surgical blue mask does have her own story of dealing with challenges amid death and destruction.
Her name is Oleksandra Korneta, a veteran nurse and director of nursing at Rolling Hills Care Center in Selma.
She’s worked up close with patients infected with COVID-19 during the early stages of the pandemic when there was no vaccine, and more recently had to deal with watching her home country of Ukraine get bombed and burned.
“It’s a huge honor,” Korneta said of being the nurse showcased on the superhero mural. “I basically represent every single nurse who went through these times.
“There was some fear of catching COVID and not knowing if you’re going to pass it on to your children and family at home. But you know your skills and things you can do to help protect yourself and others.
“So in some ways, you felt you could control it,” Korneta added. “But just when it seemed like cases were dropping and we were getting back to normal, Russia started invading Ukraine. And it’s something I don’t have any control of.
“So this problem, it’s something that weighs on me a lot. I want to help. But it’s hard to know how.”
On the day news broke of Russia’s invasion, Korneta watched on TV as her Ukrainian city of Kherson was bombed.
Her elderly mother lives on the eighth floor of a skyrise building in Kherson, and Korneta feared for her safety.
Though it’s been 17 years since Korneta last lived in Ukraine prior to moving to Fresno, she typically visits her homeland once a year.
“Every time I watch the news, my heart breaks,” Korneta said. “Many friends, my family, my husband’s family are all in Ukraine, trying to survive.
“Just saw the other day that the shopping center that my daughter loved to go to in Ukraine, it’s gone. Was bombed. It’s burned down. It’s shocking. It’s sad. You wish you could make it all stop.”
Korneta can’t help but tear up when talking about the conflict in Ukraine.
But then she wipes a tear and remembers she wants to be strong for her family and friends for those moments when they talk over the phone to get updates.
“As stressful as it is for me worrying about them, it’s nothing compared to what those in Ukraine are going through,” Korneta said. “I do think that after all of these events are done, people in America whose family is in the Ukraine, we might end up suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.
“But right now, I try to be strong for my family and stay focused on how I can help.”