Front line workers continue the fight against COVID-19

WCBI NEWS,Miss. (WCBI)- Front line workers continue the fight against COVID-19.

Doctors, nurses, and travel nurses are working long shifts to care for patients with the virus and symptoms.

Many medical workers begin their morning clocking into a full COVID-19 units.

With a recent surge in positive cases, several wards are full to capacity on a local and national scale.

“COVID-19 is tricky and it changes minute by minute. A patient can be in satisfactory condition doing pretty well. An hour later they can go downhill very quickly,” said Respiratory Therapist Paige Jorgensen.

Jorgenson is working at DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa. It’s considered a hot spot for coronavirus.

“I’ve seen many patients from 20 to 40 with no serious health conditions pass away from this disease. It may not affect everyone drastically but the chance is still there,” said Jorgenson.

One of the biggest misconceptions, Jorgenson says, is just how serious it can be.

“The situation is quite grim when you see it from the inside. We’re doing the best we can every day with what we have. We’re trying new things and trying things that have shown improvements for others,” said Jorgensen.

“We try to keep the doors closed at all times. We limit our contact and we don’t try to be in the room anymore than we have to. We do basically bundle our care, get in, and try to let the patient rest,” said Jasmine Thomas.

Thomas is a graduate of the Mississippi University for Women School of Nursing. She has worked in three different COVID-19 units since the pandemic began.

She’s traveled from New Jersey, New York, and is now stationed at Main Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas.

“We report numbers daily. I can recall there were 301 news cases reported. In the county, we have over 69,000 cases since this pandemic has started,” said Thomas.

Hospitals are even switching up the way patients receive their treatment.

“The IV pumps,how the RN controls the medicine. All that’s outside the room now. So we try to provide them with patient care as much as possible just without a lot of contact,” said Thomas.

“You have to gown up and put all your PPE on.You take it off, leave the room, and do it all over again ,so it can be very time consuming, ” said Jorgensen.

While the future of the Coronavirus is unknown, following guidelines is the best way to tackle it.

“It’s just a little nerve-wracking to know where is the end to of this,” said Jorgensen.

At this time, most traveling nurses are choosing to stay at their assigned hospital longer to lower the risk of transmission of the virus.