Letter to the Editor from Naugatuck RN

My name is David Dillon, I’m a Naugatuck resident and Registered Nurse currently treating Covid patients within the ICU units at Waterbury Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital.

It’s been tough for everyone dealing with this crisis and I understand the stress all families are experiencing. The “stay at home” and “required masks in public” are so imperative to fighting this virus. The main purpose of this message is that perhaps your page can have more reach than just me posting alone. Feel free to share the following words that’s I’d like our community to hear.

If you are one of those who feels the need to gather and protest stay at home orders...

MAYBE you need to spend the next 15+ hours in full PPE at the bedside of a patient who is suffering from this horrible virus

MAYBE you need to experience the feeling of seeing a patients oxygen saturation or blood pressure drop and quickly deciding on your next move to keep them alive

MAYBE you need to feel the sweat drip into your eyes under your face shield while staring at the heart monitor of a patient with a potassium level 7+

MAYBE you need to see the fear in a patients face as they struggle to take their next breath

MAYBE you need to hold the hand of a patient while the doctor tells them that they are going to be intubated, well knowing that might be the last time they ever take a breath on their own

MAYBE you need to hear the phone calls made to the loved ones of patients who didn’t make it

MAYBE you need to know what it’s like working on the covid frontlines all day and then going home knowing that you might get your loved ones sick

MAYBE you can just try to imagine the horrors this virus is putting people and their families through

MAYBE...you should take the hint and PLEASE STAY HOME

#stayhome #covid19