'Don't Lose Hope:' A Day In The Life of Coronavirus Nurse

ACROSS ILLINOIS — For Nicole, a registered nurse in the Chicago area, there’s no such thing as an average day. Nicole, who works 12-hour plus shifts with coronavirus patients, told Patch that she and many other nurses are staying somewhere other than their own homes to prevent the risk of infecting their families. Meanwhile, they are often the only people coronavirus patients have to turn to at the end of their lives, something Nicole told Patch is “a humbling and fulfilling feeling words cannot even begin to describe.”

For nurses like Nicole, a day at work involves suiting up in personal protective equipment before entering a patient’s room. After getting dressed in the mask, gloves and other protective gear, employees must check to make sure it is on correctly, or else they risk exposing themselves to coronavirus.

Nicole said many of the coronavirus patients she cares for don’t even want to watch the news during this time because “While the news does include the population of people recovering fromCOVID-19, a large part of the news are mainly updates about the increasing numbers or cases being reported, as well as the death rate at which people are passing from this virus.The news at this time seems to be giving the patients more anxiety rather than hope.”

She added that nurses have to help patients with their stress levels, but be mindful of their own stress levels to avoid becoming sick themselves. “It is very important to maintain a healthy immune system and one way to do that is to decrease our stress level in order to stay healthy. If the other nurses or I get sick, there will be no one to care for them.”

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She said it’s an added stress to be away from her own family during this time. “To be away from your family for weeks at a time, not knowing when you’ll be able to go back home, triggers a number of emotions in itself,” Nicole said.

Add to that the fact that many hospitals are short-staffed and nurses have to take on other roles that they normally don’t handle. Nicole said she and many other nurses feel "taken advantage of."

“It is mentally and physically exhausting to be a nurse during this pandemic,” Nicole explained, adding that many nurses have to take on “more responsibilities” that would usually fall in the hands of other staff.

“At times I want to cry. At times I want to scream,” Nicole told Patch. She explained that she often breaks down on the car ride back to where she is staying.

She added that it’s especially tough to hold it together while working with coronavirus patients. Nicole told Patch, “There have been times at work where I just want to break down right there in my patients’ room, but I have to hold it together and stay strong, not just for myself, but also for them.”

This is a fear nurses like Nicole have to mitigate, in addition to tending to patients’ medical needs. That responsibility is something that helps keep nurses going, Nicole said. “To know that I am that one person they can count on is a humbling and fulfilling feeling words cannot even begin to describe. It makes all the fear disappear knowing that I am making a difference during this time.”

The seriousness of coronavirus is something that Nicole can’t stress enough. She told Patch, “I want people to understand the seriousness of this virus. People are dying, both young and old. This virus is not one that discriminates and anyone can become ill with the coronavirus."

She added, "We need to take the shelter in place orders seriously so that we can overcome this virus and gain back some sense of normalcy.”

That sense of normalcy is something Nicole is eager to return to. In the meantime, she has a message for those who have been affected by coronavirus, whether directly or indirectly. She says, “Don’t lose hope.”

And if hope is something that a nurse on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis can hold onto, perhaps we can too.

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