Signs Of Hope Buoy Ocean Medical Center Staff Amid Coronavirus

BRICK, NJ — On March 16, as Gov. Phil Murphy was announcing the plan to close schools across New Jersey to try to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, the staff at Ocean Medical Center was seeing its first glimmer of hope in the battle: a patient sent home to complete recuperation.

"We were euphoric," said Marie Foley-Danecker, the chief nursing officer at Ocean Medical Center, who oversees nursing care at the hospital.

As positive cases have climbed and deaths have mounted across New Jersey — there are nearly 69,000 residents who've been sickened, and more than 2,800 who have died as a result of the virus as of Tuesday — the victories over the illness have become a daily rallying point for the staff, tallied on a whiteboard for all in the hospital to see. That tally hit a milestone on Friday, as more than 100 patients have been discharged from Ocean Medical Center after surviving very difficult battles.

"Seeing that light of hope, seeing someone who is so sick go home" gives everyone a lift, Foley-Danecker said.

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There has been no solid road map through this daily-evolving crisis, said Foley-Danecker, who holds multiple advanced nursing degrees and certifications. What works for one patient may not have the same positive effect for another.

"There's a sense of trepidation," she said, that comes from the losses. Though the hospital has seen roughly 275 patients who were positive for the coronavirus, not all of them have been hospitalized. It's the most severely ill who have needed the hospital care. Read more: NJ Coronavirus Updates: Here's What You Need To Know

The successes — as of Tuesday evening, there have been 134 coronavirus patients whose lives were saved at Ocean Medical Center — mean so much because the entire staff is vested in these moments and in each patient.

"We have become their surrogate family," Foley-Danecker said. Because of visitor restrictions put in place to try to contain the spread of the virus, the care teams are the only people patients see for days at a time.

"We have iPads mounted on stands that we use to let families Facetime with patients," she said, but there are still hours where the only "family" is the care team invested in trying to help them get well. "It adds another layer" to the weightiness of the responsibilities the staff feels, she said.

The biggest challenge has been those who have been put on a ventilator. The whiteboard tracks those successes, too: as of Tuesday, eight patients have come off ventilators and resumed breathing on their own.

"There's a long road to recovery from a ventilator standpoint," Foley-Danecker said. "It's not something we want to rush." But she credits the teamwork that has brought the hospital staff together, with every unit finding ways to help during the crisis.

Staff from physical therapy have helped teach and lead other staffers in helping to turn patients onto their stomachs, a position that makes breathing easier, Foley-Danecker said. Nurses have picked up extra shifts, and they have even had retired staff come back to the area from places that have not been as hard-hit by the virus to lend a hand.

"There is a common sense of duty," she said, and it has helped the staff gain a greater appreciation of the roles each group has in patient care during times of regular medical operations, which she sees as a positive for the hospital as a whole.

There are daily efforts within the hospital to help the staff manage the stresses of the intensive care the patients need.

"We provide a mindful moment every day," a moment of silence for each staffer to set a goal for what they want for their shift or otherwise get centered. "It's very personal," Foley-Danecker said. And there are regular discussion groups and conversations about the emotional toll of the work.

That has been where the community support has made an enormous difference. Ocean Medical Center admitted its first patient, a 72-year-old Manchester man who was the county's first case, on March 9. In the weeks since, there have been signs taped to the outside of windows at the cafeteria and other rooms, there have been dozens of meals delivered.

Last week there was a salute from Brick Township's police, EMS and fire companies, that included Mayor John Ducey and other members of the township government.

"The whole building stopped," Foley-Danecker said.

"One restaurant sent food in bags, and there were individual messages on each bag, jokes, poems, all positive messages," she said, that lifted the staff's spirits.

There may be a long road yet ahead, with many more patients yet to treat, but the sense of community and of caring for their community, is what keeps the staff going, she said.

"The outpouring of support, the gratitude bolsters us," Foley-Danecker said. "We're just so grateful."

Note: This article has been updated to reflect the lives saved through Tuesday.

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