Nurses On The Front Lines
by: Joanne Voss
Medical professionals all over the world are working to stop the spread and treat patients with COVID-19.
Nurses are some of the these professionals who are working on the front lines of the pandemic. They are working eight and twelve hours shifts like they always do, but because of the coronavirus outbreak, it’s not just an ordinary day on the job.
Jime Wurzbach, a registered nurse who works in an emergency department said, “Usually our lobby was full of patents. Over-full to the point we’d have to go on lockdown. The people that are actually coming to the hospital now are genuine emergencies, which is a good thing. This is how a hospital should work, right?”
However, with genuine emergencies coming into the hospital, the risks that nurses face is also very real–even as they work with masks and some other personal protection equipment.
Wurzbach said, “The CDC is lowering their standards on how we use N-95s and PPE. This is a problem, this is a bad problem. If they reduce those standards, that puts the nurses, the people on the front lines at great risk.”
These are concerns many medical professionals around the country have right now. Their first priority is always patient care, but this virus has them concerned about their own care, too.
Dulcie Wright, a registered nurse said, “If they’re a positive COVID patient, you should be using an N-95, period. You should never be using just a mask, whereas some hospitals are doing that and that’s just not appropriate.”
One of the most frustrating things for those, like Wurzbach and Wright, who are working on the front lines is the number of people are are still not taking this pandemic seriously.
“We don’t have the answers, but I guarantee you the people out there that think this is a hoax or a joke, I am here to tell you it is not,” Wright said. “We would not see body bags of people being thrown into refrigerator units, you don’t get the flu and have tons of people dying. It’s not the same.”
The stay at home orders are working in flattening the curve of the virus. Even though they’re inconvenient for many people, Wright said that from her standpoint, the rules are protecting more people from getting the deadly virus.