In the war against coronavirus, doctors and nurses do battle not only against the disease – they battle exhaustion, too.
Nurses meticulously take swabs at mobile testing sites and comfort those racked with fear. Doctors consult patients in triage tents via iPads. Emergency room nurses and doctors examine the critically ill patients. Support staff clear hallways and deliver coveted ventilators, tubing, and protective gear. And so it continues, hour after hour, day after day.
Those suffering need comfort. Many are dying – and dying alone. However, one thing is clear: precious lives are being saved by the hospital staff risking their own.
We go inside one Florida hospital to document these medical heroes doing everything they can to save people.
Above: After comforting a woman she swabbed for COVID-19 testing, registered nurse Jenna Puckett takes a momentary rest before resuming testing at a mobile site in Cape Coral, Fla. “She was afraid and overwhelmed,” Puckett said of the woman she tested. “She just needed someone to listen.”
Above: Monitoring equipment cords from outside a COVID-19 patient’s room are pushed under the door to registered nurse Aubry Sander in the intensive care unit at Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, Fla. This is done to reduce the number of times a patient’s door is opened and helps prevent cross-contamination.
