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A company's excellence out in the world starts from within. We hire the best, brightest minds we can find — and we take care of them to the fullest extent possible. Team OCTO® is diverse, savvy, dedicated, highly skilled, and supremely passionate. And you should meet them. So, we're introducing you to the team with a new Staff Spotlight interview series. 

In honor of Nurse's Week, let's kick this off with our very own in-house nurse and medical technology and operations expert Melanie Orel... 

It’s not if, but when, the next pandemic will hit. Whether that’s in five years or another 100 years (if we’re lucky), COVID-19 taught all of us lessons on how to prepare. 

The scary, predicted food shortages we dreaded never came to full fruition. But you may recall toilet paper, paper towels, disinfectant, and other household goods were picked clean from grocery store shelves every day...

It’s a scene all too familiar since last March: Like tumbleweeds rolling down the street, the omnipresent tossed or dropped light blue disposable facemasks flapping in the wind or piling up in public trashcans are becoming a common sight in every town and city. 

It gets worse. Double worse...

This April Fool’s Day, we’re going to skip the gimmicks. It’s true: The world is opening back up. Yet another thing is also true: We’re still in a global pandemic. 

With Spring in full motion now and Summer around the corner, everyone is itching to get back to “normal.” But what even is normal? If normal means going back to “the way it was before the pandemic” – well, then we’d say “normal” is foolish. Because we weren’t ready for a pandemic before it hit...

The COVID-19 vaccine has seen miraculous progress. Not only was it created with historic haste in response to the deadliest pandemic we’ve ever experienced, but the vaccine rollout efforts are well underway – and continue opening up to more people every day.

But does the vaccine mean masks will simply…go away?