GUEST COLUMNIST KIRSTEN TRACY
Registered Nurse Methodist Healthcare
“When COVID first hit, I was a Surgical Progressive Care RN who knew nothing about telemetry, various oxygen sources, or charging. My first assignment was in Long Island, NY, followed by various units here at Methodist, and recently going to El Paso when it started to spike there in October. I am now back home working as a newly trained telemetry nurse on 6 South as one of their designated charge nurses, realizing what a year of growth this has been. In my time caring for patients with COVID, I have
had some incredible highs as well as some heartbreaking lows. My fondest memory is the celebration of a patient going home after four long months in the hospital during which he got critical myopathy, unable to move so much as a finger, and had a tracheostomy. His discharge was particularly special though because he not only had his trach removed prior to discharge, but was also able to take a couple steps again. Working on COVID units has also left me with some of my hardest shifts ever, both physically and emotionally in my three years as a nurse. Each patient is special, but one challenge in particular has stuck out the most: holding the hand of my patient, a new widow, as she watched her husband’s funeral via FaceTime.
Shortly after arriving to shift when I was charging on 8 South, I took a phone call from a family member worried about her grandmother. She informed me that her grandfather, my patient’s husband, had just passed away the prior week from COVID and his funeral was that day. They wanted to know if she could leave the hospital for the funeral and return after, but unfortunately, that was not an option. I told them I had an iPhone, and we could FaceTime during the funeral so she could say her goodbyes. My director overheard and was able to track down a tablet for a larger screen – this was before all the COVID units had tablets on them for Face Timing families. I struggled with deciding how to proceed though. Do I set up the FaceTime and then give her privacy, ultimately leaving her to attend her husband’s funeral alone? Or do I stay by her side, giving her the hand of a stranger to hold? Neither option seemed adequate. I left the decision up to her and we ended up attending the funeral together while my director watched the unit. I sat there silently, holding her hand during the procession. When it came time to walk up to the casket to say goodbye, she began crying and said she wasn’t ready. I told her family to stay seated. After a couple of minutes, she looked at me and whispered she was 6 | Methodist Magazine
