COVID through the eyes of a Unit Secretary: Interview with Nelly P.
By using tested public health measures like wearing masks, washing your hands, keeping your distance, and avoiding large indoor gatherings, ways of fighting against COVID-19 have always been there. Moreover, testing can also prevent the spread of the virus, it not only saves lives but its quick and easy, but how many people go and get tested nowadays even knowing that they could have symptoms of COVID? Nelly P. explains her experience with seeing patients come and get tested for COVID-19 and how it is important to continue in being aware of your surroundings when being sick around people. She also talks about her position at the hospital she works at and the challenges that came with following protocols in her position but also seeing families being torn by leaving their loved ones under her hospitals care.
Listen Here:
Maria: According to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, Florida currently has over 7 million confirmed cases of COVID. Within those cases are about 85,000 deaths when it comes to COVID testing about 63 million tested and 12 point 59% tested positive since September of last year. With that in mind, let’s talk to someone that’s had experience with seeing COVID Patients come and go as the first wave of COVID hit hospitals throughout the US.
Maria: All right, so we’re gonna start off with you know, you telling me a little bit about yourself.
Nelly: Oh yeah well, I’m Nelly Puchkoff and I work over as a unit Secretary over in Jackson South Community Hospital in Palmetto Bay.
M: All right, and what was your experience dealing with COVID as a unit secretary in your hospital.
N: My experience dealing with COVID I worked with a lot of nurses on the floor. My floor was actually the first floor in the hospital to be hit with COVID. So we went like on full lockdown like we had to be geared up with everything. Like I looked like a national having to go into the floor. And sweat alone No, like accumulate under there would be like a lot because you had to have that protection. And we were so short staffed, and like, you have to keep things like minimal exposure, you know, so you had all these patients coming in like this whole wave of COVID positive patients, literally dying at your hands and you’re so short staffed and the nurses are burnt out and you’re trying to find like travel nurses to come work with you and all that and make all these accommodations. And as a secretary I had to attend to all the calls that the patient would do when they will call the front desk like hey, I need this. I need that and even hearing them like, over the phone like with that shortness of breath and barely being able to talk you know, they’re not even being able to see like their own families and things like that, like crying, you know? Because they’re completely alone. And these are people that are also so young. Like at the time I was 20 years old, 21 years old. Someone my same age would be on the other side of that phone in the bed with just like months left to live like doing really bad. And then getting those phone calls from the family members as well. And I’m hearing them like cry like, oh my god, I’m gonna lose them like what’s going to happen? Or having to even sometimes make calls saying I’m sorry, but they passed away. Like I’ll never forget the screams and the cries I’ve heard in that time. And I was only like, 2021 you know? Yeah, so it really it was a really hard time was a really difficult time.
M: It puts things into perspective like how?
N: It definitely puts things into perspective because you you just learn how to be more grateful like towards everything that you have, because also seeing those patients had to get wheeled out of like their room into ICU if they were even able to get an ICU bed and we’re just a community hospital like it’s just a small hospital, you know? Yeah. So everything was just so overwhelming. That’s the thing. It was also overwhelming. And we were just trying our best trying our best, you know, every five minutes. It’s called Blue Code Blue which is cardiac arrest meaning the patient is like their heart is going into the DIS arrhythmia, and it’s messing up and it’s not doing its job and next thing you know, patient was like a 28 year old guy with a family.
M: And all right, well what did I think you already explained? What did you see most one dealing with patience you already kind of explained that but you can go more into detail if you like.
N: What I did see the most which to go like into a happy side was actually like family members calling saying hey, like we’re outside in the parking lot. Can they see us from the window and the family members like having these big old sign saying hey, like you’re gonna do good, like, you know them having like that group there. And the patients that are like crying to happiness, like oh my god, like, you know, that was definitely something that I saw often that I really liked.
M: Yeah. All right. It’s good. To hear. And, um, what protocols did your hospital go through during COVID during those rough times.
N: Protocols? The one that comes immediately to my head is the donning and doffing which is a term that we use to put on donning on all the gear, all the plastic boots, the gowns, the surgical scrubs because you just go into the hospital like with your normal uniform, your normal scrubs, you have to go into a special sterilized locker room. You take them off, you put on these green sterilized scrubs. On top of that you put the gown and these plastic boots, the guy has to be completely wrapped around your body. Then you put on these gloves. Then you put on the mask, then you put on the head to cover your hair. And then on top of that you have this plastic like or sometimes glass shield to go around your head. So that’s like what five pounds of friggin equipment equipment when you to protect yourself and you have to take careful steps going up to the floor. Because then once you get to the floor, if you were to leave like you aren’t immediately take everything off. So imagine in a regular like daily basis clocking into work during the whole change going into the floor, taking care of all your patients. And they have to be discharged because there was such an overwhelming amount of people having to come in that you would have to be like at the site at the first sign of them being stable discharge, send them home. So then you have to take off everything. Take them down. Then you have to put on a whole new set of everything and you have to be like really quick because your patients coding again and you got another one coming up. You gotta get a report, and you’ve got to make sure all of them have their medications on time. You know like it’s it was really hard.
M: So everything was like back to back.
N: Everything was back to back everything was in a rush and I imagine being short staffed, or like the same nurse that’s in charge of every one of like the only three nurses you have for like 30 Something patients having to also take care of people also and she’s the charge nurse she has to manage everything for a whole floor.
M: And what was it like Um, doing COVID tests during that time when COVID was hitting at your hospital?
N: Like how was it like seeing the amount of COVID test be performed or like the people like coming in?
M: I mean, both Yeah, you can talk about both
N: Honestly, the amount of people like when it came to the people coming in to get the COVID tests done. What I saw the most i It got me really upset was like the disregard that the people had, you know, like, these are people that like still went out still do whatever they wanted, like had no regard like to go public health at all, you know, and the amount of tests that we will go through on a daily basis. Like we had to set up these huge like, outside tents to perform them and it was like constantly like back to back to back to back to back. Of course this was like when COVID was hitting those impacts. It was a lot of tests and then seeing like those people then leave and then like go somewhere else like either no mask, no gloves, not using any hand sanitizer having no like, personal space like you’re just there like, what the heck.
M: And can you say like approximately like, how many people you would see coming in like with COVID?
N: Well we will get these daily like notifications like updates, of how many cases like we would have and there will be times there was like 1000 something in a system early in the day 1000 Something new patients and that’s not including our own employees, because our own employees will also get sick, but then we have to have special protocols for that. Or sometimes like oh after five days, okay, then you could come back to work because we need people. Yeah, like, obviously, depending on the department that you worked in, but we were so short staffed that we had to kind of like push some things around like, okay, like, you know, as long as you don’t have any symptoms, you’re not coughing you’re not sneezing. After five days, then you’re no longer infectious. So you gear up, and you work because we haven’t really no one.
M: It was nice talking to you and thank you for being a part of this interview.
N: Thank you for having me.
M: You’re welcome.
