Emergency Room Nurses are dealing with the Covid

Wednesday afternoon, I met with our local Lamb Healthcare Center Nurses, to see how Covid has affected them, not only as nurses at the hospital, but as more of a personal aspect, as they are our Littlefield neighbors, when it comes to them and their families

I caught them at a slower time, which is difficult to find, even here in Littlefield, and we were all able to sit down and visit and discuss this subject.

Two of our local ER Nurses, Rosemary Franco and Miranda Torrez, and ER Tech Deanna Duran, who is in charge of gathering patient information and getting patients registered, gave me their views on how this is going for them. Since this was basically a group discussion, I wrote this as such, since the answers were all in agreement on the questions I asked.

My first question was: Do you have any fears working during Covid?

All three of them responded: Yes, we have daily fears. “There is the fear of contracting Covid itself, as the cases have varied from being mild symptoms to very severe, which caused death, so you have that fear in your mind at all times. We’re scared that we could bring the virus home to our children and family members, and it weighs heavy on our hearts, because we all need our jobs and the income.”

My next question was How has Covid 19 affected you physically and mentally?

I could tell this was an emotional question, and they responded: “Mentally, you constantly live with the fear of the ‘what if’s!’ You know, like what if I contract the virus, what if I died, what about my children if they were to catch it, or our older family members? It’s always there in your mind of what could happen, and it’s a tough way to live each day.”

Another nurse said: “It’s physically exhausting, everything that has to go into your day, so you can try and stay safe. You also have to constantly try and keep it together, for those that are falling apart. We have to be the ones who have to say “No” and that I understand you want to be with your loved one, but the risk is too great to your own personal health and safety, so we can’t allow you in the room with your family member. “We reassure them that we’ll do everything possible for your loved one and try to keep you as updated as possible. It’s so hard to only be able for them to see their loved one through a window, but they can’t go in and talk to them or give them comfort. We have to stand in for the family members as the one who is there when someone takes their last breath. We may not know the person, but we do our very best to make their time in the hospital, and even someone’s final moments as comfortable as possible for them. You could say it’s physically, mentally, and emotionally draining every single day when that goes on, but we know how we would feel, so we do the very best for all our patients and their families, because that’s what we would want done for us and our family members too.”

My final question was: Have you lost any Nurses who just couldn’t deal with the crisis?

They all answered “Yes, we’ve lost a couple, because they were having to daily risk their lives, but they weren’t getting ‘at risk pay’ and you basically put your life on the line to continue nursing during this pandemic. You have to constantly live with the guilt of what if I take this virus home to one of my own loved ones, and that’s a tremendous burden to have to deal with on a daily basis.”

I’m also taking this time to recognize the ER Tech, Deanna Duran, who not only contracted the Covid 19 virus herself and who was deathly ill with it for about 20 days total, with her fever running up to 105 when she finally went in for treatment here at our local hospital, but she also endured a 14-day-long stent at the Lubbock Heart Hospital as well.

Deanna opted to not take a photo, which was fine, but I want her to have extra recognition nonetheless. She still suffers from some lingering side effects as the Virus takes a toll on the inside of the body, yet she continues to push through every single day, and was off work for three months while recovering. Sadly, her Father, Carloz Duran, also contracted the Virus at near the same time she did, but he lost his battle on Dec. 4, 2020. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Deanna, on the loss of her precious father, and I pray that this pandemic will soon just be a bad memory for all of us.

I also thank the nurses and ER Tech for taking the time to sit down and visit with me about this, as I know it’s a difficult thing for them to deal with on a daily basis, and to even discuss openly.

Thank you for every single thing you do, not only to you all, but to every Physician, Nurse and Hospital worker here at Lamb Healthcare Center. I pray God will bless and protect you all.