ICU nurses are at risk of becoming a blur in the COVID-19 storm. When we see their mortality stats, we may turn our minds away because we do not want to know. We decided to counter this trend by sharing the life of an intensive care nurse in Michigan. Why Michigan? Because we came across an NPR post dated November 12, 2020 that provided a glimpse and tugged at our heartstrings.
Life of Lydia Mobley, Intensive Care Nurse in Michigan
NPR News interviewed Lydia Mobley, who gets her ICU assignments through a staffing agency. She was on a ten week contract at a central Michigan hospital when they spoke with her.
Lydia says it pains her so many people are not wearing face masks. This is particularly hard to accept after a day treating COVID-19 patients in the hospital ICU. The NPR post confirms she works with ‘multiple patients on every shift’ who acknowledge not taking warnings seriously.
In many cases they are intubated, with long tubes down their throats helping them breathe. But they manage to say things like ‘Well, I didn’t know COVID was real, and I wish I’d worn a mask’. But by then it’s already too late for some, Lydia says.
I Can See the Regret When They’re Still Struggling to Breathe
‘I can see the regret in their eyes’, Lydia Mobley shares. ‘It’s finally hitting them that this is real. It makes me very sad.’ A day in the life of an intensive care nurse in Michigan is traumatic. But how many of us know this is happening outside those sterile walls.
Many of her elderly patients probably received their infections from relatives. ‘Those families are now very remorseful,’ she says, ‘about not doing more to keep their family members safe.’ Staffing ratios dictate all ICU nurses can do is keep patients alive, and themselves alive too.
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Preview Image: Naked Truth of COVID-19
