{"id":118305,"date":"2020-04-17T11:29:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T15:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/david-dev.samaritan.org\/?p=118305"},"modified":"2020-04-23T17:57:17","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T21:57:17","slug":"ny-diary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samaritanspurse.org\/es\/our-ministry\/ny-diary\/","title":{"rendered":"Diary of Life and Death at Our Central Park Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Diary of a Night at Our Central Park Hospital<\/h1>\r\n<\/header>\r\n
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\r\n As night falls in New York City, <\/span>
a dedicated team of medical professionals show up for work at the Samaritan\u2019s Purse emergency field hospital in Central Park.
This is the story of the night as they battle the deadly COVID-19 pandemic in the tents. \r\n <\/p>\r\n <\/article>\r\n <\/section>\r\n

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6:30 PM<\/p>\r\n <\/article>\r\n <\/section>\r\n

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T<\/span>he night shift arrives at the emergency field hospital for their shift. Most of them have gotten just a few hours of sleep despite having gotten back to their rooms 11 hours ago. They\u2019re tired but restless, a mixture of fatigue and adrenaline that keeps them tossing around in their beds. Even as they drive back to the site, they know they never actually left it.<\/p>\r\n <\/article>\r\n <\/section>\r\n

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7:00 PM
ICU:<\/span><\/p>\r\n <\/article>\r\n <\/section>\r\n

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Nurses begin checking in on patients.<\/p>\r\n <\/article>\r\n <\/section>\r\n

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\r\n \"Every night when we come in, we pray that we won\u2019t see the same faces, that our patients from the night before have graduated to step down. It is heartbreaking to see the same people here every night fighting for life. We love them and just want to see them whole and healthy again.\"

Nurse Anesthetist Corinne<\/span> \r\n <\/p>\r\n <\/article>\r\n <\/section>\r\n

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A<\/span>ll is peaceful. There are six patients in ICU—four men and two women. They all seem sound asleep. You would never know that they are fighting for their lives. You can hear the sound of the oxygen flowing, like the tent itself is breathing. Nurses check on each patient, stroking their foreheads and holding their hands as they talk to them. There\u2019s no indication that the patient knows what is being said, but the nurses talk anyway, almost as if to reassure themselves that there is still life and connection.<\/p>\r\n

They go about their work meticulously, taking all necessary steps for infectious disease protocol. It is important that they keep themselves safe as well. They have read the reports of healthcare workers getting sick, and yes, even dying. They don\u2019t want to be a statistic, but they aren\u2019t afraid either.<\/p> \r\n <\/article>\r\n <\/section>\r\n

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\r\n \u201cWe\u2019re all just praying for one night when things go smoothly, when patients don\u2019t code. There\u2019s a moment every night as we\u2019re coming in and passing our colleagues who are coming out. And we see the weariness on their faces. And the weight of all of it hits you—how many people have gotten sick, how many have died. But that\u2019s just a minute. Then you take a deep breath and you pray and you walk into the ward and you see these patients that need you and you get to work.\u201d

Nurse Brendan<\/span> \r\n <\/p>\r\n <\/article>\r\n <\/section>\r\n

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8:03 PM
ICU:<\/span><\/p>\r\n <\/article>\r\n <\/section>\r\n

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T<\/span>he silence is shattered as a patient is rushed into ICU. He is thrashing, gasping for air. The nurses shout his name and try to comfort him, to calm him. If only he could understand that they\u2019re there to help. But he is fighting this team, who is desperately trying to get him the oxygen he needs. Beads of sweat pool at the line where his forehead meets his curly gray hair. After five minutes of struggle\u2014five minutes that feel like an eternity\u2014he is finally at peace. He has breath again, even though it is breath that goes in and out of his lungs at a frantic pace. The team is then able to get to work. Large tubes go in. Small tubes go in. By 8:22 PM, all is quiet again. The patient\u2019s family calls. The doctor assures them that he\u2019s stable. He\u2019s now on a ventilator. He\u2019ll get good care here. This family is calm. The doctor says not all of them are.<\/p>\r\n <\/article>\r\n <\/section>\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n

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