Het is al meer dan een jaar geleden dat de eerste mensen besmet werden met het coronavirus. Inmiddels zijn er wereldwijd meer dan een miljoen mensen overleden aan het virus, maar toch zijn er nog steeds mensen die niet geloven dat het echt is. Ashley werkte als verpleegkundige op de IC in een ziekenhuis in Amerika. Ze had ontzettend veel te maken met zieke mensen die nog steeds dachten dat het virus niet serieus was, en dat was een van de redenen dat ze ontslag nam. Ze deelt haar verhaal in een heftig draadje.
1. Vorige week nam Ashley ontslag van haar baan op de IC.
2. En dat kwam mede door een ervaring die ze had op haar laatste dag.
On my last shift I had a very eye opening experience. El Paso was in the middle of its hardest hit time with covid hospitalizations and cases. I was working in covid ICU and at the time checking finger stick blood glucose levels on the entire unit, about 25 patients 2/
— Ashley Bartholomew, BSN, RN (@TheBlondeRN) November 16, 2020
3. Hoewel de meeste van de coronapatienten niet aanspreekbaar waren, was er die dag één man die wel wakker was.
One of my last rooms to go into the patient was awake and alert. He was being transferred to a lower level of care in the next hour or so. The news was on, El Paso in the national headlines again for needing more freezer truck morgues. The patient makes small talk. 3/
— Ashley Bartholomew, BSN, RN (@TheBlondeRN) November 16, 2020
4. En ondanks dat hij ziek is denkt hij nog steeds dat er veel nepnieuws wordt verspreid over corona.
He mentions hating “fake news”. He says, “I don’t think covids is really more than a flu.“ I clarified, “Now you think differently though?”
He replies, “No the same. I should just take vitamins for my immune system. They (news) are making it a big deal.”
I’m shocked. 4/
— Ashley Bartholomew, BSN, RN (@TheBlondeRN) November 16, 2020
5. Ashley schrikt ervan, omdat de man letterlijk op de intensive care ligt door het virus.
I’m at a loss for words. Here I am basically wrapped in tarp, here he is in a Covid ICU. How can you deny the validity of covid? How is this possible? Misinformation is literally killing people in mass, I think to myself. 5/
— Ashley Bartholomew, BSN, RN (@TheBlondeRN) November 16, 2020
6. En hoewel het niet iets is wat verpleegkundigen normaal horen te doen, besluit ze er wat van te zeggen.
Typically as a nurse we usually put on a face. We don’t tell our patients another patient just died. We don’t tell them what we just saw. We walk in to care for that patient as they are. We give them our full unbiased care.
I make a choice. Something I’ve never done. I say, 6/
— Ashley Bartholomew, BSN, RN (@TheBlondeRN) November 16, 2020
7. Ze vertelt over de toestand van andere patiënten.
“To be honest this is my last shift. You’re the only patient of 25 that has been able to speak to me today or is even aware I’m here.”
He’s surprised but doubtful and asks if other people are doing as well as him. I tell him I’ve never seen so many people SO very sick. 7/
— Ashley Bartholomew, BSN, RN (@TheBlondeRN) November 16, 2020
8. En als de man vraagt of veel mensen zijn overleden geeft ze eerlijk antwoord.
“Really?” He asks if a lot of people have died.
I’m brutally honest. I tell him in 10 years of being a nurse I’ve done more CPR and seen more people die in the last 2 weeks than I have in my entire career combined. 8/
— Ashley Bartholomew, BSN, RN (@TheBlondeRN) November 16, 2020
9. Het lijkt alsof de man het enigszins begrijpt.
His tone changes, he seems to have understood the gravity of what I’m saying. He apologizes.
I cry. The hot tears roll down my face from under my glasses, onto my mask, my respirator, from under my face shield and onto my gown. I apologize for tearing up and compose myself 9/
— Ashley Bartholomew, BSN, RN (@TheBlondeRN) November 16, 2020
10. Dan ziet de man de andere patiënten.
A few hours later I had the opportunity to transfer him in a wheelchair to a lower level of care, a medical COVID floor. He sees the other patients in the ICU as we are leaving. We arrive to to the floor and I’m waiting to give report to the nurse 10/
— Ashley Bartholomew, BSN, RN (@TheBlondeRN) November 16, 2020
11. Hij beseft dat hij het mis had.
He says one more thing, “Thank you for telling me what you told me. Thank you for being a good nurse and about me. I saw a lot of the other ones when you were wheeling me out of ICU. It’s much more than a flu, I was mistaken.” 11/
— Ashley Bartholomew, BSN, RN (@TheBlondeRN) November 16, 2020
12. En hij bedankt Ashley.
I thanked him and I told him I hope he has a complete recovery. I hope he can heal.
“I will tell everyone that denies how bad this is about my experiences,” he says.
I will too, Sir. I will too.
/end
— Ashley Bartholomew, BSN, RN (@TheBlondeRN) November 16, 2020
13. Helaas is deze man niet de enige.
Thank you for everything you do. Patient privacy has been taken so far that people have no idea what is going on. And in the community, people don't want to say they've had it as they feel like there's a stigma. We need to rip people's head out of the sand before it's too late.
— Dawn Sherling, MD, FACP (@dharrissherling) November 16, 2020
14. Maar laten we hopen dat dit soort verhalen mensen een beetje wakker schudden.
I wish those who think Covid is a hoax or not serious could spend one week working at a hospital in the Covid unit. How quickly they would see the truth!
— Sage (@Sage_311) November 16, 2020
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