Gabriela Mejia'10

Gabriela Mejia '10 
Registered Nurse       
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital - Methodist Hospital Division        


How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your experience at work? At home?

At work it has become almost traumatic to walk through the front doors of the hospital.  We are asked if we’ve had a fever or cough and handed a surgical mask we have to wear for our entire 12.5 hour shift.  We get to the unit and have to put on a hair cover as the virus is believed to stick to hair and we gather our bag with our N95 mask that we have to keep for 7 days (they are meant for one time use) our PAPR (positive airway pressure respirator) hood and our goggles and face shield.  The goggles and face shield are for the entire length of this pandemic. We can barely breathe in these masks all day, we sweat because we are breathing in our own hot air for almost 13 straight hours. At home my work shoes live in a plastic container on my front steps so they never go in the house, I have to strip at the front door and immediately go wash all my clothes in the hottest water with Lysol Laundry Sanitizer, extra detergent and dry them on the hottest setting. Immediately shower in the hottest water I can tolerate and then I can finally try to relax and eat for the first time all day. 

Are there any stories you would like to share?

I work in one of the two critical care units in my hospital and we’ve had an influx of COVID-19 patients. These aren’t our typical chronic illness people with an acute issue - these are people young and old who may or may not have had any prior medical problems.  They come up from the ER absolutely terrified because they know what this virus could mean for them. They struggle to breathe and grab at you out of fear, ripping at your plastic gown that already exposes your back and legs because they need human contact. Every day we get multiple emails about policy changes regarding protective measures for staff and sometimes we disregard them despite the consequences because we need to feel we are still protecting ourselves. I’ve been a nurse for five years, and I’ve seen many people die, but watching the patients die of this virus has really started to affect me and I can only imagine how this will mess with my head for years to come. Visitors have not been allowed in the hospital for weeks, but as these patients get sicker and are placed in a glass door room that must remain closed at all times, their families are allowed nowhere near them. So we have to FaceTime for them to say their final goodbyes. That is what gives me so much pain is knowing that I am the only human contact this dying person has and they can’t even see or touch their family members, after death their belongings will be placed between two body bags and not immediately able to be given to their families for some comfort. Some of the nurses I work with are around my age, some younger than I am. I never thought at 27 years old I would be dealing with a pandemic and I would have to emotionally equip myself for an unknown amount of time living in trauma every day.  I live alone with my dog, and can’t see my own family or friends for fear I’ve been exposed and could pass the virus to them.

How did your WFS education prepare you for your work at the moment?

I think learning introspection at WFS is whats holding onto my last little bit of sanity and hope in this situation.  We are all so overwhelmed. We get home completely defeated but the selflessness we are taught and loving and supporting our friends has been invaluable in the long days I’m with my coworkers.  We are the only human contact any of us has had in weeks, we try to just have moments of quiet to relax but we hold moments of silence for those who have passed outside their room before we have to disturb their final peace one last time. It is how we try to honor them.

 

Is there anything else you would like to share with the WFS Community?

Please, I beg all of you as one of the people whose gloved hands are the ones holding the feverish hands of those dying while I sweat dressed in plastic for hours just to provide some love to those who will die either alone or with only me in the room, stay home! Wash your hands in soap and water, wear a fabric mask while outside your home and please consider donating hospital grade masks to the healthcare workers around you.  We only have the supplies we’ve got- many of our supplies come from China Italy and Germany so with the virus affecting those areas we are forced to break typical safety protocols and were terrified of what happens when we completely run out. Hold us in the light, we are people too who are risking our own lives to try to save others the best we can.