I had chest pain this week and had to go to the hospital. I went to Jefferson in center city Philadelphia. I dread going to any ER but now with all the Covid-19 patients, I really really didn’t want to go. I took another nitro tablet. The pain was bad. I put on a mask went in.
What I learned spending the night in an ER during the pandemic.
I had chest pain. I had bypass surgery last year. I knew I had to get to a hospital. I went to Jefferson in center city. I dread going to any ER but now with all the Covid-19 patients, I really really didn’t want to go. I put on a mask went in.
When I got there the place was packed. I had to keep reminding myself not to touch anything. The waiting area had been divided in half with plastic but both sides were totally full. I found out later that the idea was to keep all the COVID patients together on one side and the other patients on the other. Unfortunately there were so many COVID patients that both sides of the waiting room were full with COVID patients. The triage nurse sorted the patients and kept everyone organized. It was pretty amazing. She juggled a man demanding a Japanese translator, a woman having a miscarriage and about 30 COVID patients. And me. The triage nurse was patient and kind. I asked her how she did it. She said she really didn’t know, she was just doing her job.
It seemed like every person ahead of me in line was COVID positive. I wondered how long I could hold my breath. Luckily when it was my turn and I said that I had chest pain, they took me in the back for an EKG. Since the internal waiting rooms were also full of COVID patients, they quickly put me into my own ER bay. I closed the glass doors and sanitized my hands. I don’t know which had me most scared, the chest pain or COVID patients.
When my nurse came in, she was wearing her standard PPE. She had on an N95 mask, a surgical mask, goggles, face shield, gloves, hair bonnet and a gown. She smiled, reassured me and got to work. How in the world do these people work with all that on? She started an IV without missing a beat. A series of physicians came and went, all dressed head to toe in PPE. Housekeeping stopped in wearing their PPE. Everyone smiled and just did their jobs. No one complained or cut corners. They just did their jobs. Some were working extended shifts. I’m sure many skipped their breaks and lunch. They just did their jobs.
Since March when the pandemic began, we have lost 1700 health care workers to COVID. Just for comparison, 84 police officers were lost in 2019. When one of our police or fireman die in the line of duty, we try to support their families. They get posthumous promotions, funeral processions to honor them and more. We thank them. We honor them. We show the world how grateful we are for their sacrifice.
In my opinion ALL healthcare workers from housekeeping to physicians are more than heroes. They are superheroes. Every single one of them. They just shut up and get to work. Somehow my nurse found the time and energy to reassure me, compliment my nail polish and offer me something to eat. My ER physician went on a hunt to find me a pillow. Someone brought me water.
There were no beds available so I ended up staying the night in the ER. I was alone and scared. I had to share the public bathroom with the covid patients. Patients lined every corridor. I slept with my mask on. It felt like being in the eye of a hurricane. I tried to meditate to keep from crying. I just wanted to go home.
That night I overheard the staff talking and teasing one another outside my room. They talked about their families and errands to run in the morning. How did they stay so causual in the midst of all this? Someone announced a nurse’s birthday on the overhead speaker. Staff sprinkled throughout the ER clapped. These people truly cared about one another. They were a team. They had each other’s backs. Maybe that was the key to all this.
At the beginning of the pandemic the hospital had set up a testing station right where I park when I drop off a family memeber. Early in the morning I would see the nursing staff setting up for a long and dangerous day of COVID testing patients. Then I saw the nurses form a circle to stretch and do some jumping jacks before they started their day.
Then they did something that shocked me.
They danced.
They laughed. They elbow bumped. They created joy.
Then they got down to work and did their jobs.
After a few weeks of this they even made a video of their dance routine and it was shown on the ELLEN show.
I worked in a hospital for 30 years. Although I am not a nurse, I get it. They form bonds and work families with their coworkers. I can only compare it to the bond soldiers have going into battle together. They have to do things they never thought they could. They see things they wish they could forget. They hear the primal cries of people finding out someone they love is gone. They hold the hands of patients dying alone. They watch multiple patients die on a single shift. Then they just go home and make dinner. Only other coworkers really get what they are going through, what it’s really like.
When you work in healthcare you know on a certain level there are risks. Years ago it was hepatitis, then HIV but no one ever anticipated this. They worry about bringing COVID home to their kids or their elderly parents. They do their very best to protect their patients, their staff, their families and themselves. Many will deal with PTSD from all this.
But they just keep doing their jobs.
Healthcare workers are a special breed. They risk their physical and emotional health to help complete strangers. They get poor benefits and low pay. And 1700 of them have made quietly made the ultimate sacrifice. No news stories. No processions carrying their body home. No scholarships for their children they left behind. No fundraisers. They were just doing their jobs.
They may look like just normal people but they are not.
They are real life superheroes.
Saying thank you is not enough.
They are tired. They are burnt out. They are scared too.
And the next wave is here.
Don’t make their jobs any harder.
Please, Please…Just stay home. Wear that mask. Wash your hands.
