Across the nation, dozens of the former cheerleaders have moved from the sidelines at the stadiums to the front lines of the pandemic — and many are bringing with them much needed pep from their days on the football field.
Emergency room nurse Carole Mazer is among dozens of former NFL cheerleaders now working to fight COVID-19. The former Raiderette can even still do the splits, but she has since traded in her pom-poms for personal protective equipment.
"You can take me off the field, but you can't take the cheerleader out of me," Mazer told Inside Edition.
And she's not alone — Alicia Purdy was a cheerleader for the St. Louis Rams. Now she's a nurse and a coronavirus intubation expert.
"As a cheerleader you are wonderful under pressure — the same goes for anesthesia," Purdy said.
Intensive care unit nurse Joanie Polidoro explained what it's like when her patients find out she was former cheerleader for the Philadelphia Eagles.
"It's great. It gives them a nice feeling, it makes them happy and it actually eases them," Polidoro said.
Across the nation, dozens of the former cheerleaders have moved from the sidelines at the stadiums to the front lines of the pandemic — and many are bringing with them much needed pep from their days on the football field.
"Both professions lift people up," said Lisa Fascenda, an operating room nurse who was once an Eagles cheerleader.
"It's very stressful at times," said pediatric nurse Phillipa, formerly a cheerleader for the Jacksonville Jaguars. "The biggest challenge is keeping everyone safe in and out of the hospital."
Monique Barrett is a respiratory therapist who answered Governor Andrew Cuomo's call for medical workers to travel to New York City to help.
"I was able to make a difference and I saved lives," the former Atlanta Falcons cheerleader said.
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