GUEST COLUMNIST DEAN GUNNING, RN IV
ICU Night Shift Charge Nurse Methodist Hospital | Texsan
“It’s been over one year since the first patient with COVID-19 came to Texsan. It’s been a year filled with so many changes and challenges for everyone, but especially for the nurses taking care of patients with COVID-19. I really believe my time in the military helped prepare me to get through this incredible time, and I am grateful for the life experiences I’ve had that helped me care for my patients and my work family.
I served 20 years in the Air Force, including a year in Desert Storm. The military teaches you how to manage stress. I believe the key to that is the culture and structure it provides. The military is a big family that respects each other and takes care of each other. That’s how it feels at Texsan. I’ve worked here for 17 years, and we probably spend more time with our work family than our actual family. We make it a point to ask how each other is doing and pay attention when someone isn’t doing ok. We know when something is wrong, and we try to see if there is something we can do to help. It makes a difference knowing that we have each other’s back.
Within a few weeks of the start of the pandemic, we converted at least half of the ICU to a COVID unit.
8 | Methodist Magazine
