UH Responds to COVID-19

UH Responds to COVID-19: Caregivers’ Grit and Compassion

Another shift on the COVID-19 floors and ICUs of UH medical centers means each nurse and doctor is donned in personal protective equipment – double gowns, N-95 masks, face shields, gloves and foot covers – to step into the unknown and care for their patients.

Facing the sight of acutely ill coronavirus patients and the sounds of i.v. beepers, ventilators and negative pressure ventilation systems, UH physicians and nurses face a stressful environment every day.

Each call light and bedside encounter could be a matter of life or death for the patient with the novel coronavirus. While some COVID-19 patients require ventilators, ECMO machines and medications to maintain life, others celebrate their hospital discharge with family members, balloons and clap-outs. For inpatients, slow improvements could be gone in a minute when patients’ breathing crashed. Some COVID-19 patients slip into comas, and others are placed in unconscious sedation to improve breathing function. And nurses and physicians are the only ones who could meet the complex needs of each patient. And then to provide even more of themselves.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many health care providers stayed beyond their shifts, forgoing their own needs and those of their families. Since patients could not be seen by relatives or friends, nurses had to provide another role in the lives of patients. They were their support system, comforting and listening to their patients, holding computer tablets up to the patients, allowing them to converse with family - and in some cases say their final goodbyes.

Heath care providers returned to their homes, exhausted and isolated from their own families, and then rose again the next day to provide care once again. And despite their precautions, some did contract COVID-19. After the 14-day quarantine and cleared to resume their duties, these same UH providers came back to care for their sick and dying patients once again.

At the peak of the pandemic, when everyone was asked to stay home and avoid contact with others, essential UH health care providers – physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, environmental service workers and dietary workers – reported for duty.

The demands on these frontline health care providers, and those who worked countless hours securing UH operations in the hospital incident command structure (HICS), seemed endless.

The stamina and dedication of our UH health care providers during this unprecedented time went beyond the scope of duty – and they stepped up to the call and gave even more of themselves. Without a doubt, the compassionate care provided by our teams influenced the survival of our patients.

UH is honored and privileged to have our dedicated health care providers who deserve much respect for their contributions. We thank and appreciate all of our frontline caregivers who served during the pandemic.