00:00During this pandemic, it's been a little bit different than normal.
00:03My job has changed a lot. It's just totally changed the way that we care for certain patients.
00:10I'm Sophia and I'm with Refinery29. I am calling in from the state of Florida.
00:15I am a registered nurse. I work on a surgical unit. My job is to take care and advocate for
00:21patients. I have been a registered nurse since February of last year. My passion in nursing
00:27began at the age of 12. My grandfather was unfortunately diagnosed with bladder cancer.
00:33I saw his hospice nurse and she became a huge inspiration to me. The night that he passed away,
00:40I just saw how much love she took towards him and made sure that he was comfortable. She was there
00:46for our family and never left our side and we still have that connection with her until this day.
00:51I started doing nursing classes and then went to college and started nursing school and it was
00:58just a complete passion of mine. So I just got to my hospital for my third night this week. It
01:03has
01:03been a couple of busy nights, so let's head in and see what tonight will bring. I work night shift,
01:09which means I work from 7pm to 7am. Normally we have surgeries every single day. When I came on for
01:16my
01:16first shift coming back after a few days off and the pandemic started to pick up and health professionals
01:23were really called to action. I didn't know what I was going to be coming into, what kind of patients
01:30I would be taking care of, how many patients I would be getting, how many hours I would be asked
01:35to work,
01:36what it meant to take care of COVID patients, and what it meant for going home and making sure that
01:43I
01:43didn't infect my family. Cloth masks that are made from home are not really effective in what's going
01:51on right now. It may help with the droplet. So if someone sneezes or coughs and that happens to be
01:58near
01:58you, if you are wearing a mask it does help you. However, it is airborne, so the masks that are
02:05most
02:05effective are the N95 masks and the N100 masks. They both have filters in them and that's currently what
02:12our healthcare professionals really need. And other hospitals don't even have N95 masks to use,
02:19so we are lucky that we even have them currently. Well, I just finished night three out of four this
02:26week. I am pretty exhausted. That was a long night. I'm tired. I'm ready to go home, take a shower,
02:34and hopefully get a few hours of sleep. Continuing to work is important to me. I have decided to pick
02:41up
02:41a few extra shifts these upcoming weeks in order to help out my unit so that we don't have a
02:47strain
02:48on staff. I know that there are patients that need my help, and not only are there patients,
02:55but there's families who are counting on the people at the hospital to take care of their loved ones when
03:00they're not able to see them every single day. We have no visiting hours currently. This really breaks
03:06the connection between a patient and their family, and we are very sorry for the fact that these
03:11patients can't have just that face-to-face connection. So a few nurses and a few patient care
03:19techs have been teaching them how to FaceTime on their phones and just trying to keep that connection
03:24with their families. The greatest thing that I saw was the community came together and they all parked in
03:31the parking lot to practice social distancing, and in the parking lot they flashed their lights,
03:38kind of like a Christmas display. This was just a sign for the health care professionals and the
03:44patients that the community was with them and thinking of them and keeping them in their thoughts
03:50and praying for them. I had a patient who was very lonely and very sad, and I just kind of
03:56pulled up
03:56a chair next to her bed and just held her hand, and she just kind of talked to me about
04:01her day, and that
04:03physical touch between her and I seemed to provide her some comfort during this time. Patients seem to be
04:09wanting to talk a lot more and they're wanting to share their feelings and tell me that they're lonely,
04:15and that's very hard to hear as a health care worker. It's very important for us right now to be
04:21there, to show up at work, to be present, and to make sure that we're providing the best care that
04:26we can
04:26and show them that we are calm, to show them that during this time of fear and this time of
04:33panic,
04:34that we are doing our job and we're doing it calmly, and we're doing it to the best of our
04:39ability.
04:40Every nurse's story during this pandemic is different. My story looks different than a nurse in
04:47California, a nurse in New York, a nurse in Ohio. We all want to take care of people. We all
04:54want to
04:54provide the best care. We also want to keep our patients and ourselves safe and our other colleagues
05:01safe. To be considered on the front lines is an honor. You are dealing with people's families with
05:09patients in their most vulnerable states, and it's not a job that I take lightly. I did not expect to
05:17ever be in a pandemic, especially in my first year of nursing. It is a complete whirlwind. It's very
05:24stressful. It's very scary. It makes people very anxious. Stay in contact with your friends and
05:30family. Call them on the phone, FaceTime with them, but make sure that you're practicing social distancing.
05:36There are many people who are immunocompromised, so please stay home. If you do see a nurse or a doctor,
05:44please thank them for what they're doing. But also there's just so many workers that are still working
05:51right now and that cannot work from home and that are away from their families and possibly being exposed
05:59to COVID-19 as well. So please thank them. I don't always feel like a hero because I'm just doing
06:07the work
06:07that I have always been passionate about, but I feel very blessed to be doing what I love to do.
06:14Nursing people back to health is essential. I'm doing my part, so please stay home and do yours.
06:20Thank you for watching Refinery29. To watch more videos, click here, and to subscribe, click here.
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