Nurses face exhaustion as they continue treating COVID-19 patients

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION)

Exhaustion, fear and lack of staffing are what nurses on the Central Coast say are some of the biggest challenges they have faced as they continue to treat COVID-19 patients.

Tawnya Gilbert assisted in COVID-19 testing and says long hours and heavy patient case loads has been tough for many nurses.

“Nurses go home exhausted and with heartache and they have each other to talk about this," says Tawnya Gilbert.

Gilbert says she believes nurses need community and self care now more than ever.

"My favorite part about being a nurse is making space for the humanity and the nurse to patient relationship but now I've stepped into this whole second layer of making space in humanity for the other nurses," says Gilbert.

One Santa Cruz County nurse who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation says while no visitation is allowed and patient case loads increase, staff and patients often develop a friendly relationship, which she explains is difficult when a patient passes away.

“It’s really rough, there are so many other patients waiting for equipment and ventilators that we don’t even have a lot of time to process what’s happening and that’s not a good feeling to have."

Other nurses say they fear work conditions and treating COVID-19 patients first-hand puts their health and that of family members at risk.

With cases rising every day, nurses in Monterey County worry there are not enough staff members to care for patients.

Jaime Guglielmo works as a staff nurse for the Neonatal ICU at Natividad Hospital and says in some cases, nurses have to work in unfamiliar departments.

 “We are now being floated all over the hospital to help with patient care with most cases no training, no adequate or safe training and this is unsafe." says Guglielmo.

Registered Nurse Jennifer Jean-Pierre with Natividad Hospital says staffing issues are a matter of life and death.

“Now, I have to figure out who I need to go see first, we have alarms and ventilators and medications that I need to monitor and if at any given point I miss something, a patient’s life is in jeopardy," says Jean-Pierre.

Nurses from both Monterey and Santa Cruz County say although they will continue to care for patients, they want hospital officials to step in to put a plan in place for more staffing and safety measures.

The nurses in Monterey County say they are reaching out to the Board of Supervisors in hopes of working for a new script for staffing and safety.

Natividad issued a statement in response to the concerns. CEO Dr. Gary R. Gray said:

"The entire country is going through an unprecedented event. Our community health care workforce deserves our gratitude.

• "We have not requested a patient-nursing staffing ratio waiver and presently have no plan to. Many hospitals have been forced to exceed ratios, but we have not.
• "We have 29 traveling nurses scheduled to start throughout January. We have 60 here now, so will have 89 by the end of the month. We are working to relieve staffing. For instance, nurse leaders have taken some shifts. Staffing is tight, and we are committed to safe staffing and working diligently to that end.
• "Non-urgent surgeries have been postponed.
• "We are not currently in contract talks. We have met weekly with the union since March to listen and address their concerns."