Sometime around the end of this week, Massachusetts hospitals are expected to realize their peak surge in coronavirus patients. By all indications, our health facilities have enough equipment and staff to do their work but many health care workers will be pushed to the limit, exhausted. Some may be exposed to the disease.
Some doctors and nurses will have the heartbreaking task of connecting dying patients to their families via video conference. It is their job to bring peace to the dying and their loved ones while providing relief from the symptoms and stress of the illness to improve quality of life. It is palliative care.
For most of us, the gravity of that role is unthinkable.
For some doctors and nurses in the COVID-19 era, it is their day-to-day.
There are stories coming from all around the country about nurses who have reached out to families when they knew that a loved one was close to the end. Often the nurses caress and soothe the patient as the families say goodbye. Often, the nurses cry.
A Fox television affiliate in Washington state told the story of “Michelle,” whose mother was in the hospital with COVID-19 in very bad shape.
A nurse named Tatiana called Michelle to warn her that her mother was slipping away. “I can tell by the signs and the way your mom is breathing that the end is probably near.”
Tatiana suited up in protective gear and used her own phone to connect Michelle and her mother on Facetime.
“She held the phone to my mom’s face, and I told my mom that I loved her and I was going to miss her,” Michelle told Q13Fox.
“I love you, and I’m going to miss you. And it’s okay for you to go. It’s okay to go,” Michelle told her mother.
“My mom could hear my voice as she was being comforted,” Michelle told the reporter. “My biggest fear was her in that room dying alone. I couldn’t even stomach it for even a second, and those nurses made it so that didn’t happen.”
“When the nurse moved the screen from my mom’s face … and put it back up to her, she was crying. I could see the tears through the mask.”
There are many such stories.
Thankfully, hospitals in the Bay State know what to expect and are preparing for it.
Last week, Christine Schuster, a nurse by background but now the president and CEO of Emerson Hospital in Concord, spoke about those health care professionals in those extremely delicate and emotional situations.
“We actually do have a dedicated unit that if patients are dying, we have staff who can talk to families.”
She said iPads were generously donated to the hospital and they are being put to use and they can be very beneficial in the process.
“We’ve had a number of patients who have had a Facetime experience,” she said. “It actually relieves the guilt of the family. It provides a safe place for the patient to pass.“
The staff in that unit also care for each other.
“I think the key is that you have a trained professional who knows not just how to deal with the patient and their family, but also the staff,” Schuster said. “The important thing is to work them through the process and allow them to have closure and feel good about that experience.”
We cannot express our appreciation enough to those health care workers on the front lines in this battle. They are heroes among us. We must always appreciate them and on the other side of this crisis, we must celebrate them.
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April 19, 2020 at 05:10PM
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We can never thank health care workers enough - Boston Herald
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