“My husband works long hours at our local hospital. I haven’t seen another human being besides my stir-crazy toddlers in a long time. Before I knew it, I had comfort food, a bottle of wine, and two very missed faces on my lawn. They only stayed a few minutes and well over 6 feet away, but those few minutes gave me what I desperately needed to continue moving forward.”
‘Today I received disappointing news. As a wife and mother I dropped the ball, and I failed.’: Woman says ‘our mental health is just as important as our physical health’ after friends’ act of kindness
‘One more week of trying to put a smile on through tears. One more week of hearing you say, ‘Mommy, I can’t wait to kiss you again. How much longer will this be?’: Nurse mom says ‘cherish this time for those of us who can’t right now’
“One week of air hugs through Facetime. One more week ahead of wondering if this will be the week we’ll run out of PPE completely. One more week ahead of uncertainty, of masking up and walking into the unknown. We will come out on the other side.”
‘They tell me, ‘Go back to your country.’ Many of my patients ask to switch nurses. I’m not Chinese, and I was born and raised in America.’: Nurse vows to continue to fight ‘despite obstacles’
“I head into the shower and visciously scrub my skin until my eczema flares up to match the raw, peeling skin behind my ears from wearing masks all day. I sleep alone, without my special someone. I park my car in crevices to power nap on a makeshift foam mattress in the back of my trunk after a 12-hour shift to head right into another 8-hour shift. I will continue to fight, no matter the obstacles.”
‘Today you cried in the hospital parking garage. Your face broke when you looked at the last picture you took of your sleeping child.’: Woman says you are more than ‘just a nurse’
“To the nurse that pushed sedation and paralytics into the veins of your favorite physician. To the provider sleeping in a tent, hotel, camper, basement, or garage in an effort to minimize your family’s exposure. My prayer is you never wake up in the night sweating or gasping for breath. May you stay the course as one of the ‘mild’ cases.”
‘A state trooper pulled me over. As I sputtered to apologize and waited for a ticket, he reached in to hand me five N95 masks. I burst into tears.’: Health care worker thanks state trooper for act of kindness, ‘We are going to be okay’
“He reached in to hand me what I assumed was my license back. It wasn’t until my hand had closed around it that its unexpected bulkiness drew my eyes to it. I burst into tears. This complete stranger, who owed me nothing and is more on the front lines than I am, shared his precious masks with me, without my even asking.”
‘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.”
‘We picked up our food and the girl at the register bagging up the food had a cough! She was coughing and packing people’s orders!’: Nurse thanks community for acts of kindness, ‘This is not a drill’
“I’m more uncomfortable in the grocery store, without my mask and gloves or hand sanitizer, than I am at the hospital. To the people dropping off masks and food for those of us on the front lines, we appreciate it more than you know.”
‘I still wanted to be the nurse who helped. 365 days ago, you died. I still wake up in the night crying for you.’: Woman who lost partner to overdoes says ‘though your death broke me, I think your death rebuilt me
“You texted me at 10:34 p.m., and I responded two minutes later…but you never responded back because it was too late. Your death wrecked me but your life and love and death made me the nurse (and person) I am today.”
‘I didn’t sign up to walk into every shift with gut-wrenching fear I may take a death sentence home to my immunocompromised child.’: Nurse says ‘give us some grace as we navigate these uncharted waters’
“I’m tired of hearing, ‘People in the medical field shouldn’t complain. They knew what they signed up for.’ I signed up to be compassionate, to use my skillset to assess and treat illnesses. I did not sign up to fight a global pandemic wearing a bandana as a make-shift mask. I did not sign up to practice Nursing while our patient’s visitors steal supplies already on a nationwide shortage.”
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.”
