Local nurse reflects on COVID work experience in Arizona

WORLAND - Five nurses from Banner Health Washakie Medical Center volunteered to take shifts in Arizona at the Banner Del E Webb Medical Center in Phoenix to help treat hospitalized patients.

Brianna Kilpatrick, Brittany McCormack, Brieanna Nothe were the first three to go earlier last month. Following after their stint were nurses Kaeli Campbell and Montana Smith.

Campbell sat down with the Northern Wyoming News recently to discuss her experience in what has been a COVID-19 hot spot in the country.

She said she and Smith were unable to go when the first three went. They left on July 6 and returned July 18, working two full weeks. Campbell noted she worked an additional shift during the two weeks because the need was there.

Initially Banner Health sent out a request for nurses to come help and Campbell said, "Several of us said we would be willing to go."

Campbell added, "I personally felt that if they were really putting a call out there, they were desperate and if I can help in anyway, I was happy to be a part."

At Banner Del E Webb, Smith again worked night shifts and Campbell worked days on three different floors. Campbell said the three nurses that went before them worked on the medical/surgical floor, as did Smith. Campbell, who has been working as a nurse for three years, worked on three floors - medical/surgical; rule-out COVID floor and the positive COVID unit (PCU). She said the rule-out and positive unit both had enhanced precaution.

In the PCU she handled up to five patients in a shift. "It was busy and took so much extra time to get all the personal protective equipment on to get in the room," she said.

When she worked on the COVID floor she said it was heartbreaking.

"I think in Wyoming, people don't realize how devastating COVID can be," Campbell said. She said if you go to the grocery store here you may see two people wearing a mask while in Arizona they have a mandatory mask order in place.

She said she saw COVID hit people of all ages in Arizona, noting, "I took care of three patients in their early 40s. One recovered while I was there but they couldn't walk across the room without oxygen," Campbell said.

They had been in the hospital for 35 days.

The experience made Campbell think how COVID-19 can impact anyone. "No one knows why it hits some worse than others," she added.

Campbell was also hit hard about how lonely COVID-19 patients can become, especially in a bigger city.

"The biggest impact on me was because of COVID hospitals are not allowing visitors. I get that, it's a good thing but these people are lonely and alone and hospital personnel are the only people they see all day long. That was sad to me.

"Here [in Worland] I may be familiar face, but there they didn't know me and I was their only support; it made me sad. The elderly can't see their kids or grandkids," she said, noting one patient was sobbing when she was finally allowed to go home.

"I really wish our community would take it a little more seriously. I would like people to know it is something real. It is not hoax. I've heard people say it's political, not from my experience. We can be better by just taking time to think about who in your life might get it. I'm going to be 48 in couple weeks it could be me, or my little brother or my parents," she added.

OTHER WORK

On the medical-surgical floor she handled five to six patients a day. "We don't ever have that at Washakie Medical Center."

Campbell said the call by Banner Health was not just answered by Washakie Medical Center. She said she knows of a nurse out of Colorado that also worked the same two weeks that she and Smith worked.

Along with dealing with many more patients, the experience was also different due to the size of the Del E Webb hospital. "It's a huge hospital there are three towers, each with six floors. It was overwhelming. I got lost a few times. It was a super different experience; I'm so glad that I went."

"It was hard when you don't know where things are. I have a greater appreciation for traveling nurses. It's difficult to be thrown into a place, the procedures are different, and then finding where they put things like oxygen tubing. It was a challenge, but a good challenge. It was worthwhile."

While many people like to vacation in Arizona, Campbell said the two weeks she spent there was "no vacation. It was hard. I cried at times I was so tired. It was sad, but I'm super glad I was given the opportunity to help them. They really were struggling."

Returning from a hot spot like Arizona, Kaeli has worked to maintain her distance from her family to make sure she is not showing any symptoms.

"I'm super close to my family, I've been wearing my mask. I sit outside and eat by myself. I don't want anything to hurt my parents. I wanted to be cautious because of my two weeks in Arizona. I will wear a mask at the grocery store or anywhere else where I may be around a lot of people," she said.

Campbell said she would be willing to go again , but currently Banner Washakie Medical Center cannot spare any additional staff.