There was this 50-year-old man who was intubated and Code 3 was echoed in the hospital. I tried, along with my team, to do chest compressions to bring him back to life. I did it one time and he came back after about five, six minutes. I’m thinking, great. I saved somebody’s life, but two hours later, we got a Code 3 for the same room. I go back. Shocked him and he came back. We continued to review the chart trying to figure out why his heart kept stopping.
About an hour later, he codes again. I am still with the same team, saying, “I am not going to give up. We brought him back twice, we can bring him back again.” These coding events occurred from 10:00 p.m. to about 3:00 a.m. It was very hard and emotional. He did survive the night. However, he did not make it the next day. Very heartbreaking, but we did all that we could do.
The one silver lining about all of this is our hospital is very lucky because we have humongous support from the communities around us. We’ve had lots of donations — including more PPE — which is the good that has come from the coronavirus crises, everybody gathering together to help.
The 7:00 p.m. clapping and cheers is also an impressive example of people coming together. I live in Midwood/Flatbush —it’s more of a kind of suburban neighborhood — so, I don’t hear the clapping or anything like that. However, my brother lives in the city and he sent me a recent video after working the 24-hour shift — I was just sitting for a minute, catching my breath — and I watched the video and burst into tears.
Yes, I was overtired and emotional but it’s just so impressive that a lot of people just stop what they’re doing at 7:00 every day to clap … it just shows solidarity. I was very touched and moved by it, and I think it does keep us going because even though it’s a very hard job, we feel rewarded in the way of our patients [and others] appreciating that we’re helping to save lives.MORE VOICES FROM THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS:
- The Flight Attendant in Her Mid-60s Working on Deserted Planes due to Coronavirus: ‘We Feel Like the Forgotten Group’
- The Mom with a Preemie in the NICU Just as Coronavirus Swept New Jersey Hospitals
- The Nurse at Home with Her Kids Who Wants to Be Back on the Frontlines: ‘Helping Others Is What I’m Meant to Do’
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