Jennifer Cole post https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.cole.3762/posts/10158041418726203

Will abstract in thread. Worth reading on Facebook.

"I lost a patient today. He was not the first, and unfortunately he's definitely not the last. But he was different."

"I've been an ER nurse my entire career, but in New York I find myself in the ICU. At this point there's not really anywhere in the hospital that isn't ICU, all covid 19 positive. They are desperate for nurses ..."

"I've taken care of this man the last three nights, a first for me. In the ER I rarely keep patients for even one 12 hour shift. His entire two week stay had been rough for him, but last night was the worst. "

"I spent the first six hours of my shift not really leaving his room. By the end, with so many medications infusing at their maximum, I was begging the doctor to call his family and let them know. "He's not going to make it", I said."

"I was the only person in that room for 3 nights, fighting as hard as I could to keep this man alive. The doctor was able to reach the family, update them. It was decided that when his heart stopped we wouldn't try to restart it. There just wasn't anything else left to do."

"I called the doctor to come and mark the time of death. I wished so much that I could let his family know that while they might not have been with him, I was."

"I see someone's Grandpa, someone's Dad, someone's Husband. They aren't here with him. My heart breaks for them.
I fold his sweater and place it in a bag with his loafers, his belongings. A coworker opens the door to a locked room; labeled bags are piled to the ceiling."

"The patients are all the same, every one. Regardless of age, health status, wealth, family, or power the diagnosis is the same, the disease process is the same, and the aloneness is the same. This city is breaking and stealing my heart simultaneously." Jennifer Cole

This account posts facts about SARS-CoV-2 & COVID-19, but it's difficult to see what's happening on the frontlines. This piece by Jennifer Cole shows the toll this disease is having on hospitals, families, communities & healthcare workers.
Thank you, Jennifer Cole.