COVID-19: Heroes- On the Frontline & Behind the Scenes

By Nikki Coppola

JRN100 Stonehill News Staff

As the coronavirus continues to spread in the United States, anxiety for health care workers is also building as they work longer hours, face changes in the workplace, and worry about protecting themselves and their families.

In early January, it was announced that hundreds of cases of the COVID-19 were being treated in Wuhan, China. Within weeks, the world was taken by storm as countries began reporting cases as well. 

Today, the United States is leading the world with the highest number of both cases and deaths. Healthcare workers in hospitals and medical facilities are struggling to deal with the coronavirus pandemic with one of the largest challenges being obtaining personal protective equipment for their own and patients’ safety.

When Amber Poirier of Newton, MA received her nursing license in 2018, she was excited to begin her new journey and get a job in a hospital. She never imagined the challenges that she and other nurses are now facing. 

She works as a staff floor registered nurse at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston.

With the recent pandemic, Poirier has been experiencing changes in her schedule and her work environment. Instead of dealing with typical 8- to 12-hour shifts, nurses are being expected to work upwards of 16 hours in one shift. 

The concern of heavy patient flow is one that floods the minds of nurses like Poirier. 

“The COVID unit and ICU are busting at the seams. My unit is now a COVID unit as well,” said Poirier. Poirier said that some nurses are making sure their wills are in order.

Nurses who are not directly on the frontline are facing many other problems as well. 

For Georgette Greeley of Milford, MA, a pediatric nurse of 21 years, the lack of personal protective equipment is a huge concern. 

“We are given one mask per shift and currently taking what we can get,” Greeley said. 

The lack of PPE is something all medical professionals are facing. Many are not able to get a hold of N-95 respirator masks, which are suggested to prevent the spread of the virus more than the basic surgical mask.

Greeley uses her surgical mask to see patients throughout the day and hangs it on her computer when answering phone calls. 

For Poirier on the frontline, her hospital has recently secured N95 masks to be used by medical professionals, however, nurses are concerned that they will have to re-use them. 

“We will be getting N95’s that’ll then be decontaminated and reused up to 5 times which no one is happy about because we have no idea how these chemicals affect our health,” Poirier said.

As if the worries of the chemicals and mask reuse are not enough, Poirier pointed out that hospitals are restricting access to these masks.

“They’re all hoarded and locked away so responding to codes is so much harder because everyone needs to have the appropriate masks now,” Poirier said. 

Theses codes are medical situations in which patients are in need of resuscitation and health care workers rush to save their lives. 

For Greeley in the pediatric office, while she is concerned with the lack of personal protective equipment, the number of patients she is in contact with has lowered since the stay-at-home advisories. 

“Our office patient volume has decreased significantly. The phone triage nurses have been asked to work from home and with the telephone visit option being available, our exam rooms are mostly available. We are now seeing only well visits in the morning and sick visits in the afternoon, which is very different for us,” said Greeley. 

For both Poirier and Greeley, the risk of coronavirus creeps closer every day. 

“One of our doctors was advised to self-quarantine because his wife (a pediatrician) was exposed,” Greeley said.

They said that as healthcare workers there is a high likelihood that they may contract the virus, but the system is not as supportive of workers as it should be.

“If we do get sick, or are told we have to stay home, we have to use earned time to do so. This is time we’ve accrued while working for sick days, vacations, etc. but some people do not have earned time so they would be out of work without pay,” Poirier said.

Both nurses were very clear when asked what the public can do to stop the spread of the virus. 

“Stay home listen to the guidelines!” Greeley said.

Poirier echoed that. 

“Stay home! That’s the #1 thing we can all do for ourselves, our loved ones, and all the essential personnel who have to report to work every day,” Poirier said.