Another Nursing Story: The Building-A Mary-Go-Around
The Merry-Go-Around.
Covid showed itself by giving our patients diarrhea then nausea and vomiting. Our dehydrated patients were easy prey. That first patient was deceased in two hours after she started showing symptoms. I was unable to obtain labs in less than four on a good day, X-rays takes longer. Since we didn’t have a lab that was brave enough to come in the building, how could we protect our patients? The building was 50 years old and being held together with duck tape and superglue and no air circulation with an airborne virus.
We had great management, they decided to move everyone after that first one to a different hall and/or a different room. I mean the upper management in this building was the most asinine people that I have every ran across. Bunch of higher than thou, retarded, never worked a day in their life, ass holes (and I hope they all read this). I mean who in their right fucking mind moves an elderly patient with ten diagnoses around to different rooms with an air borne virus. I mean I don’t have a doctorate but I’m not stupid. So these patient were moved rooms, the rooms were not disinfected, and they probably moved twice that first night to different areas.
Then we tell them to pick five items and box everything else up. What five items would you pick? Think about that. Then they boxed everything else up, stacked it up in our dinning room, and labeled it. I doubt anyone got anything back. Then that first day all but one CNA walked out and left the building with one nurse and one CNA. After that day, no one receive a day off, and we went from 8 hour shifts to 12 hours. I think the longest stretch I did was 22 days in a row.
Our patients were dropping like flies on a cold winters day. No staff, didn’t have proper PPE, people were scared, no day off in site, we all suffered. I have never seen such craziness in all my days. Our patients weren’t just patients they were family. We celebrated holidays, birthdays, weddings, and many other special occasions. WE LOST AT LEAST 80 people that first year out of 100. That will mess anyone up, I think. It’s still hard. I miss many of them. Every facility went thru some similar issues when it started. If your a nurse or a CNA and worked long term care during Covid just know there is one person out here thinking of you.
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