“It’s not glamorous. Most of the time it’s quite the opposite. Messy. Ugly. Difficult. Painful. Exhausting. You will get burnt out and want to quit. But don’t you dare forget your why. Remember, it’s so worth it.”
‘I’m going to be a nurse like you, mom!’ You are going to change the world, one patient at a time.’: Nurse pens letter to future child, ‘Healthcare needs you’
‘It started with sharp stomach pains. Two days later, I was hunched over, trying to catch my breath. My body felt like I’d ran a marathon.’: 21-year-old nurse recovering from COVID-19 urges ‘nobody is too young’
“When I arrived at the ER, that’s when things started to get critical. It’s like my body knew I was finally in the right place, in the right care, and it could stop fighting. My lips and turned blue and my oxygen dropped. I couldn’t stand up any longer. Both lungs revealed patches where COVID-19 was present.”
‘It doesn’t end for us on the frontline. You see, we take it all home with us.’: Nurse urges ‘love on your people as much as you can’
“I started my 12-hour shift with two COVID positive patients. I ended my 12-hour shift without both of them. We don’t want to take you away from your loved one. We don’t want to see your eyes fill with tears from the reality sinking in that this is probably the end. We don’t want YOU or YOUR loved one to become the next statistic.”
‘Sweetheart, you’re going to get through this.’ The smiling eyes behind your goggles and N-95 masks will stay with me forever.’: Woman pens love letter to nurses who helped her battle COVID-19
“She was the ICU nurse who got stuck with the COVID-19 patient. I don’t know how many hours I spent staring at my oxygen on the monitor, willing it to rise. All I wanted was one breath. Still, she showed up, with grace and humor. I will never forget that sacrifice.”
‘Should we intubate her?’ She went into anaphylactic shock. As she got better, COVID reared its ugly head.’: Husband celebrates nurse wife, ‘She doesn’t wear a cape, but she wears scrubs’
“Coming into contact with anyone who had a common cold would have killed her. She is not 100% healed, yet day in and day out, she is taking care of COVID positive patients. It’s her calling. Although she does not wear a cape, she wears scrubs.”
‘I know this may sound strange, but you can drive my car to work. We won’t need it.’ My car battery was dead. I was already late to the hospital.’: Nurse vows to ‘pay it forward’ after stranger’s act of kindness
“I’m standing there, irritated, overwhelmed, and in scrubs, and the man says, ‘So, you’re a nurse?’ This man literally handed me the keys to his Prius. I drove his car to work crying most of the way.”
‘This is my face after spending a 12-hour shift on a Covid-19 ICU team and crying the entire 30-minute drive home.’: Nurse urges ‘teamwork is the only way we can get through the hard stuff’
“My fellow rockstar nurses had to code a patient while wearing full PPE. After seeing a whole group of people gathering in a culdesac in my neighborhood yesterday, I felt I needed to share this.”
Thousands cheer from balconies for Covid-19 frontline workers in touching video: ‘We see them, we love them, and we are eternally grateful.’
“Every night since Sunday, we have come out at exactly 8 p.m. to cheer for and support all those who are putting their lives on the line to save ours. Every night gets louder than the last.”
‘I just spent 30 minutes under the hotest water, crying in the shower out of fear so I don’t scare my family.’: Nurse urges ‘our lives are just as important as the ones lying on the stretchers’
“Here I am today, shaken and crying. I’m not scared of this virus. I’m angry. Every day I set foot in the ER, there’s a high risk of contamination, injury, and possibly death because of lack of masks, gloves. Yet, without a second thought, I will always choose to risk my life to save someone else’s. That makes me extremely sad for my children. I hate that I’ve put them in this situation.”
‘I keep hearing, ‘Stop complaining, this is what you signed up for.’ We did not sign on to care of others without being properly protected ourselves.’: Nurse urges ‘understand the risks we’re taking against this illness’
“Telling a nurse who is showing up for work every day, bravely walking into a COVID-19 rule out room without proper protection, is the equivalent to telling a police officer they signed up to be an officer without a bullet proof vest and gun, a firefighter they signed up to combat fire without water, or a solider they signed up to go to war without weapon.”
