Coping With COVID-19 Pandemic...Then and Now*

A Registered Nurse/Texas Knight story of service, commitment, and devotion to duty.

When the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe in the first quarter of 2020, I got scared and worried over how to properly take care of my patients who had contracted the deadly virus.

Over the 30 years that I had been a Registered Nurse, I had never encountered a pandemic as deadly as COVID-19. It was an unseen and yet deadly enemy who can put a person six feet below the ground.

Despite the fear, uncertainties and the potential danger to myself, I consider myself blessed and thankful to be given the opportunity between July 2020 and March 2021 to take care of COVID-19 patients in the two local hospitals where I work.

It was understandable that most of the nurses did not want to be assigned to the locked down COVID-19 unit for fear that they may get the virus. But I was brave enough to take on the role of lead healthcare provider, and did the best that I could together with my colleagues to take care of the sick and critically-ill patients.

Our shared goal was to help make them get better, go home healthy and safe and be with their family again. This despite knowing full well that at any time, I could contract the virus and instantly pass it on to my co-workers and family.

I exercised all possible precautions to keep the virus at bay, including wearing the prescribed personal protective equipment consisting of gloves, gown, goggles, N-95 mask and shoe covers. Never mind that it was such a challenge to wear the PPEs for 12 hours straight, three times a week. They were uncomfortable and would irritate the skin.

At the end of each shift, your skin will swell up and even tear in some areas, particularly around the nose and face and both ears because of the tight N-95 mask.

All of this is just a part of what it is to be an "astronaut" in the healthcare setting, with the PPEs acting as our armor and primary defense against the virus.

Those long, difficult days of trying to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and taking care of my patients in the locked down unit at the same time only made me realize that life is indeed short and fragile.

I also look back with fondness on those days when we were called heroes without capes, as we became the second family of our sick patients, we were their home away from home. We advocated for them, listened to their concerns, addressed their needs and had to stand up for them.

We fought for what is right for them, prayed with them. And during their most difficult moments, we became their shoulders to lean on.

We became their beacon of hope, their source of healing and recovery. I would like to believe that we made a difference in their lives, in the same way that they changed our lives, too. We both learned from each other's experiences and we developed memories that will last a lifetime.

Patients then said that we were angels sent to earth by God to restore and preserve their health.

But for me, I was just doing my job. I strongly say that as a front liner, my mission is never ending.

We are here to spread God's Good News by helping people get back on their feet, restore their health. And if the situation unfortunately arises, we are also there to help them die with dignity and peace.

The job can become difficult, as the long days during the COVID-19 pandemic showed, but what keeps me going is the service, commitment and devotion to the noble duty shared with other medical front liners.

After all, our main mission is to make this often treacherous world a better place to live in in our humble way, through actions, deeds and words - all for the greater glory of God.

*This testimonial article is one of the 600 literary and art works entries submitted to the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Intertextual Division for Ani 42, the official literary journal of CCP.