2026 Blue KC Answering the Call Honoree Kalaa’ Thomas – Month of September
Restoring the Joy
We’ve all heard the expression, “If you love what you do for a living, you’ll never work a day in your life.” But what happens when your occupation is what creates stress? The results can be catastrophic.
Kalaa’ Thomas promised her mother before she died of breast cancer that she would pursue a career in nursing. As an ER nurse, she loved being able to help people when they were in a vulnerable situation. But during COVID, that came back to bite her.
When COVID broke out, she moved to California where the need for ER nurses was great. “The things that were happening in California with COVID were similar to the things in New York,” she said. “It just wasn’t televised.
“In the ER, you never know what’s coming through the door anyway. But COVID was a little different because you had to mask up before you could even touch people.
“It was very hard to watch people pass away every couple of minutes. You did all the things that you could do, and you still couldn’t save them. Their family couldn’t be there with them, and you also weren’t with your family.
“You just felt helpless, because you couldn’t help them, even though we had all the resources. The respiratory disease just was brutal. COVID was terrifying.”
Thomas didn’t recognize what treating COVID patients was doing to her. She knew she didn’t enjoy going to work anymore, but she didn’t know how bad it was. She even started having suicidal thoughts.
After four years at various hospitals across the state of California, she came back to Kansas. It was there that it hit her. And it was in the unlikeliest of places.
“Kansas had just lifted its mask mandate, but California still had a heavy policy on masks,” she said. “One of my favorite stores is Scheels, so when I came home, my partner and I went to Scheels for a little bit of joy.
“The store was packed, and I went in with a mask. We both wore masks, but nobody else did. When we walked in there, we got a lot of looks and stares. My chest got hot, and I got very uncomfortable. We immediately had to leave the store, and that’s very much unlike me.”
It was her partner who recognized how different Thomas was acting. When she mentioned it, Thomas snapped at her. But she soon realized she had to do something, so she begrudgingly enrolled in The Battle Within, an organization that helps former military personnel and first responders cope with their sometimes-hidden trauma.
Having people who were experiencing the same things she was experiencing helped Thomas. Through The Battle Within, she recognized that she was still carrying trauma from taking care of her mother as she was dying. Slowly, she started to realize there could be joy again.
“The program allowed me to cope with day-to-day activities, trying to maintain normalcy while trying to return back to the career that I love,” she said. “The Battle Within changed my life.”
She decided the best way to pay back those who helped her with her recovery was to become a mentor herself. She admits that mentoring helps her own recovery because you’re going through the training again, just with more tools in your tool belt.
“Maybe one of the classes that didn’t speak to me when I was going through it can speak to me now,” she said. “I can just take notes and apply it to whatever I’m going through now.”
Because of her work, Thomas is the September recipient of the “Blue KC Answering the Call” award, sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, benefitting The Battle Within.
And now, thanks to The Battle Within, Thomas is once again enjoying the joy of working in the ER.
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