As Adventist Health Ukiah Valley continues to care for the community, including COVID-19 patients, nurses are sharing their stories on what it’s like being on the front lines and asking the community to do their part to help stop the spread.
They are referred to as “heroes” these days, but James Warner, RN, who has been caring for COVID patients, says he’s just a nurse, doing his job.
Prior to the pandemic, Warner worked in the hospital’s Med/Surg unit. When COVID hit and they were planning how to staff the COVID units, he stepped up. “I volunteered because it’s my job, this is what I signed up for. And as long as I’m doing everything to protect myself, I don’t have any concerns. I know I’ll be okay,” he shares.
Although he says, he worries more about his family, especially his mom, who also happens to be a nurse at the hospital and is high-risk. “She has health issues, so I try to stay away. When I go see her, we socially distance and talk from afar. She worries about me and gives me a lot of advice to make sure I stay safe.”
Aside from caring for COVID patients in the hospital, Warner is also involved on the other side of COVID response – testing. He works in Lake County doing surveillance testing and taking samples at the county testing site for at least 15 hours a week. “It was one more way I could serve and help.”
Born and raised in Ukiah, Warner says this is his way of giving back. Since they’ve reopened the COVID unit, Warner has taken care of 12 patients and he says one of the most interesting and challenging parts is how patients can take a turn for the worse quickly, and often without warning.
“They can go from perfectly healthy to super sick. One day I cared for this patient who was doing fine. I was off for two days and when I came back…she’s already been back from the ICU, needing so much more oxygen and extra medications. You don’t see it coming. Even though you know there’s a chance it can happen. There’s just this tipping point where suddenly, they go from being stable to needing a lot of support. That’s not something we see in non-COVID patients. It’s tough for our teams, especially when they pass away because it happens very quickly. It’s always hard when we lose someone but it’s even more difficult when we thought they were doing so well.”
Adrian Jackson is new not just to the hospital but also to nursing. He joined the hospital as a new nurse this year and is now working in the COVID unit. “It’s not that different caring for regular patients. The only difference is that they require more help, more monitoring.” Jackson says he didn’t plan on starting his nursing career during a pandemic, but it has been a great learning opportunity.
Like his colleague, Jackson says, he has no concerns about caring for COVID patients. But he does worry about his family, especially his 80-year-old mother who doesn’t know he’s caring for COVID patients. “She lives with me and is mostly healthy. I don’t want to tell her, so she doesn’t worry about me. But I still don’t want to bring the virus home, so I take all the precautions.”
He wears scrubs while at work and changes before he gets home. He purchased special shoes and removes them before he steps foot inside the house.
What’s the most challenging part about caring for patients suffering with COVID? Both Warner and Jackson agree that the time and planning required to put on PPE, plus the isolation for patients from their families have been challenging. “Protecting ourselves with the PPE takes time, about five minutes to put on. And we must put on a new set of PPEs each time. So we consolidate our care as much as possible, so we only go in about 3-4 times per day for medication administration, assessments and others.”
“We’re used to rushing in the patient room when they call for help. Now you can’t do that. There are so many more steps before you go in and out of the room. We have to be smarter, more efficient,” explains Warner.
Aside from the challenges around making sure they take all precautions, Warner shares that COVID patients are different than the average patient they see “These patients are sicker than what we’re used to. They need more help, more attention and more monitoring. It’s a little challenging trying to balance taking care of them, especially when we have more than one patient at the same time. There could be days where you have three or four people that have high oxygen demands; they’re not as mobile so it’s more challenging.”
While there are some who don’t think the virus is real or are not taking this seriously, Warner has a word of caution: “It’s very real. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I’ve seen how it affects our patients, their families. I’ve seen how it can get very bad, even for healthy people. You don’t have to be old or in bad health for this to affect you really badly.”
That’s why he asks everyone to do their part and help them fight this virus. “Please stay home as much as you can. Wear a mask when you go out. Wash your hands. The fewer people that get it in the area, the less strain we have on the healthcare system and the better we will be able to help those that do end up needing our care.”
Warner and Jackson both say they will continue doing their part in caring for patients and ask the community to do their part.
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September 11, 2020 at 01:16AM
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Stories from the frontlines: Ukiah Valley nurses caring for Covid-19 patients share their experiences - Ukiah Daily Journal
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