MIDLAND, Va. — The nurses working the COVID-19 ward at Midland Memorial Hospital know this virus better than just about anyone in West Texas.
"The patients require a lot of care," said Austin Hall, a critical care unit nurse at Midland Memorial. "You know they’ll be fine one hour and then the next hour they’re having to be transferred down to the ICU."
The type of care these nurses are giving goes beyond their call of duty.
“We have our ups and our downs, it’s hard on the nurses, we have to be there for the patients because we can’t allow anyone into the patients rooms,” Hall said.
No visitors in or out of the hospital means these nurses are bridging the gap between the patient and their support system, making sure they are medically taken care of. But now they must help care for them emotionally, too.
“It’s tough on us and we kind of feel their pain, I mean we put ourselves in their shoes about how it feels to have a family member that you can’t see in the hospital," Hall said. "It takes a toll on us.”
The nurses have rung up a solution-dialing up patient's loved ones and giving them daily updates.
“We call the family and we update them daily," Hall said. "We tell them you know you can call back anytime.”
The FaceTime updates are just another way these nurses are saving lives.
“We’ve had family members who have had their children write us cards and we have them posted all in our break room all over the walls in the COVID unit," Hall said. "We use those as reminders that we’re here for the patients and we’re doing our best during this pandemic.”
It's a small act of compassion that is having a huge impact exactly when patients and their families need it.
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