For healthcare professionals, the COVID-19 pandemic has been especially difficult. In some hospitals, there just aren’t enough doctors and nurses to go around, and the rest are being spread increasingly thin. In these tough times, nurses across the country are heroically stepping up to battle the near one million coronavirus cases in the U.S. with dwindling supplies, putting themselves at risk in the process. This makes this year’s National Nurses Week (May 6-12) perhaps the most important in history as now more than ever, nurses the world over deserve appreciation and support.
Being a Nurse During a Pandemic
As you can imagine, a day on the front lines of a pandemic isn’t your typical shift as a nurse. In the areas that are being hit the hardest, it isn’t uncommon for nurses to be working twelve-hour shifts right now, protected by yesterday’s equipment, and fulfilling a doubled workload. While the situation may look bleak, in an interview with Patch.com one Chicago nurse described being the last line of defense as “a humbling and fulfilling feeling words cannot even begin to describe.”
How to Support Nurses
Right now, the best thing you can do is stay home to lighten the load on nurses and our healthcare system. After that, donating protective items like nitrile gloves, face shields, and masks to keep hospitals stocked up with enough supplies for nurses to feel safe when working with patients.
We Sell Mats sends our deepest gratitude to the nurses on the frontlines fighting this pandemic and we encourage everyone to reach out to the nurses in your life and thank them for everything they do.