The light in the dark of 2020

I have failed so many times this year.

I have failed to get out of bed on days where my body wouldn’t listen to me.

I have failed to be open with my family, friends, colleagues, and clients when the despair was too great to function.

I have failed to be as present as I could have been during this most unprecedented time – historical mostly due to failures in leadership, process, and procedure that have cost our country 289,000 deaths and counting as of the writing of this post.

But most of the time, I am able to do so much – get up, work, smile, speak, write, advocate, care, support, listen, live, be – and each action is a success that must be celebrated.  

These are the days that will define my life.

I was a high school student during 9/11, graduated college in 2008 during the Great Recession, and worked as an emergency and radiology nurse during disasters, epidemics, and the worst days in the lives of so many of my patients. But this pandemic, this year, these moments – these will be what I tell future generations about.

And while I will speak to them about working through PPE and supply shortages, not knowing what to do when others needed it most, shouting reassurances to patients through masks and goggles, managing the public misinformation, and drowning in cleaning supplies at work yet not being able to find basic hygiene products at home, there are other more important moments that I will share first and most frequently.

I will tell the future generations of nurses and other healthcare workers about the fear of others, fear of an unknown, and a fear of bringing an evil home that could harm or kill my loved ones. I will tell them about the loneliness – missing my family, my friends, and not knowing when it will be safe to be around them again. I will tell them about the isolation – not just the feeling of being alone but also the physical distance between people – eating lunches outside, not in the break room with my coworkers. About edging away from others because of the unease of being around people without a mask. And the feeling of fear that was not always of others, but of myself, not knowing if I was unwittingly passing on a novel evil to others.

I will tell them about the crushing weight of shame when I called out of work as an essential frontliner, not for COVID-19, but for anxiety and sadness that I could not get under control, no matter how much mindfulness, self-care, and therapy I sought out. I will tell them about the days when I couldn’t move without my husband physically hauling me out of bed and into clothes to get even the most basic things done.

I will tell them that even in the darkest, loneliest moments that I was still me.

I was still a nurse. And I was no less of a nurse because of my struggles. Every time I took a stronger dose of my SSRI - I was a nurse.  Every call to my therapist, appointment with a psychiatrist, and day I stayed in bed and streamed 12 hours of TV in an attempt at harm reduction – I was a nurse. I was nursing myself. I was nursing my mind and my brain chemistry. I was nursing chronic conditions called anxiety and depression that were exacerbated by the most unprecedented year in medical history.

And I never did it alone. I had my husband, my amazing partner in all things, who cared for me every day. I had my family and friends, IRL and online, who helped support me during my best and worst moments. I had my incredible nurse community – because we are a community that can withstand all things – who checked in, sent me packages, emails, texts, DMs, messages, and the most hilariously inappropriate memes to make me smile on days when I thought the world was ending. I will tell them that my nursing and healthcare people came together to support me because that’s what we do when the shit hits the fan – we roll up our sleeves and figure out how to fix it.

I want to tell everyone going into healthcare in the future that you are never alone.

You have generations of us - nurses, doctors, nursing assistants, techs, phlebotomists, imaging technologists, respiratory therapists, social workers, therapists of all varieties, and all the other medical roles that make up our incredible healthcare team – who have had those dark days, been in those paralyzing moments, and gotten through to the other side. We are here for you to lean on, get guidance, and receive all the wealth of our collective experiences. We are also here to represent those who have not made it. We know how impossible the work is, yet we continue to do it. Through the hardest moments, we are there to care for others, keeping them alive and comforted, making them better. 

But know that you will have dark, challenging moments too. And often those moments will be in your car, on the way home, or at 0400 when you are unsuccessfully trying to sleep. You will be replaying things in your mind, wondering what you could have done differently, or thinking about how all of it doesn’t matter anyways. You may despair. You may want to give up. And it’s OK. I want you to know that I have despaired. I have wanted to give up.

But I haven’t, and you shouldn’t either.

I have seen the dark, and yet I eventually got up out of bed again. I showered, grabbed coffee, and put my scrubs back on. I got my PPE. I grabbed food and my nurse bag and went to work. I put on my mask and goggles. I cared for others because that’s what I do because I am a nurse.

 When I tell others about 2020, I want to make sure they know all the parts.

And I want to make sure that no matter what year it is, the dark moments have happened and will happen again, but despite the darkness, there is so much light to be had. I show up every shift for the light. I am here to help you see it too.

Sarah @ New Thing Nurse

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About the Author - Sarah K. Wells, MSN, RN, CEN, CNL is an educator, speaker, blogger and owner of New Thing Nurse, a professional and academic coaching company for the nursing world. New Thing Nurse is organized to provide support and guidance to aspiring nurses, newly graduated nurses, and veteran RNs looking to make a change in their life. 

Whether it’s a new school, new job or new idea,

New Thing Nurse wants to help with your new thing!

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To gather or not to gather, that is the question.

Thinking about getting a small group together for Thanksgiving this year?

Many are, but is it worth the risk? And what is the risk?

COVID-19 is raging across America.

The United States is facing another huge surge in COVID-19 cases across the country. As a nation, we have hit new highs of cases per day, hospitalizations and have now surpassed 250,000 deaths from COVID-19.

What does this mean for me?

COVID-19 is basically everywhere. People have been testing positive at a progressively higher rate across the country since September. When more people have the virus, it spreads faster and faster because more people have it to give to others.

And when more people have it, more people wind up in the hospital. In many states, hospitals are FULL meaning they have no beds or no staff to take care of you if you have a medical emergency.

Read that again - MANY HOSPITALS DO NOT HAVE SPACE OR STAFF TO TAKE CARE OF YOU.

That means medical staff have to start making choices about who gets care and who does not. This happened in some states already this year, but this round may be worse. Earlier this year, hospitals were at max capacity in some states but other states were able to help out by taking patient transfers or sending medical workers to help ease staffing shortages. Now, everyone is facing a mounting surge of COVID-19 patients. There are fewer and fewer hospitals with beds available to take any transfers. And no one has staff to send. No help may be coming.

What does this have to do with Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is a holiday where families and friends traditionally gather together to eat and visit. This is an especially enticing idea as so many of us have been isolated from our loved ones, and everyone is desperate for a feeling of normalcy in this most not-normal year.

And what I hear from healthcare workers is an even greater desire for something normal. We are carrying huge burdens in our professional and personal lives. That burden is now threatening days that are so special to our family and friends. We are used to working on the holidays but not having our work cancel the holidays for everyone.

However, gathering this year is riskier than you may think. With the rates of COVID-19 so high across the country, the possibility of being able to safely get together, even in small numbers, without someone in that group having COVID-19 is small.

Now you may be asking how I know that. That’s a great question! I know that thanks to the good people at Georgia Tech who have created a website called the “COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool” where you can assess the risk level of attending an event, given the event size and location.

I don’t care what Georgia Tech says. I WANT TO GATHER!

As a University of Georgia alumna, I completely understand where you’re coming from (sorry GT). However Georgia Tech isn’t the only group trying to show the risk of gathering for Thanksgiving and other upcoming holidays.

The Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has on their website - “…the safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving is to celebrate at home with the people you live with.”

The CDC goes on to break down the risk of holiday activities:

Lower Risk Activities

• Having a small dinner with only people who live in your household

• Preparing traditional family recipes for family and neighbors, especially those at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19, and delivering them in a way that doesn’t involve contact with others

• Having a virtual dinner and sharing recipes with friends and family

• Shopping online rather than in person on the day after Thanksgiving or the next Monday

• Watching sports events, parades, and movies from home

Moderate Risk Activities

• Having a small outdoor dinner with family and friends who live in your community (Lower your risk by following CDC’s recommendations on hosting gatherings or cook-outs.)

• Visiting pumpkin patches or orchards where people use hand sanitizer before touching pumpkins or picking apples, wearing masks is encouraged or enforced, and people are able to maintain social distancing

• Attending a small outdoor sports events with safety precautions in place

Higher Risk Activities

Avoid these higher risk activities to help prevent the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19:

• Going shopping in crowded stores just before, on, or after Thanksgiving

• Participating or being a spectator at a crowded race

• Attending crowded parades

• Attending large indoor gatherings with people from outside of your household

• Using alcohol or drugs that may alter judgment and make it more difficult to practice COVID-19 safety measures.

Try to get creative!

This year won’t be like the past, but there is an opportunity to make it memorable for fun reasons. Try to get creative with how you are going to connect with the family and friends that you may not be able to see IRL. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a great blog (who knew?) that put out a recent post with some fun ways to celebrate Thanksgiving remotely this year:

Send Gifts. Although COVID-19 has changed our lives in many ways, sending cards or gifts remains a relatively easy way to let loved ones know that you’re thinking of them. Who wouldn’t want to receive some home-baked goodies, a basket of fresh fruit, or a festive wreath? If you enjoy knitting, candle making, or other ways of crafting gifts for the holidays, now’s the time to start planning for Thanksgiving through the New Year.

Make Videos. When I’m visiting family, there is often music involved—with guitar, piano, and maybe some singing. But, this year, I’ll have to be content with video recording a few songs and sending them to others by text or email. Come to think of it, the kids and the grandkids might enjoy these songs just as much—or even more—if they can watch them at a time and place that works best for them. (On the other hand, some of them might roll their eyes and decide not to open that video file!) If you don’t play a guitar or like to sing, you can still make your own holiday-themed videos. Maybe share a dance routine, a demonstration of athletic skill, or even some stand-up comedy. The key is to have fun and let your imagination run free.

Share a Meal Remotely. Most of our end-of-the-year holidays involve the family sitting around a table overflowing with delicious food. With all of the videoconferencing platforms now available, it is easy to set aside a block of time to share a meal and good conversation remotely with friends and family members, whether they live nearby or across the country. Rather than one cook slaving over a hot stove or a certain person monopolizing the dinner table conversation, everyone gets a chance to cook and share their stories via their smartphone, tablet, or laptop. You can compare your culinary creations, swap recipes, and try to remember to leave room for dessert. If you have a tradition of playing games or giving thanks for your many blessings, you can still do many of these activities remotely.

Take an After-Dinner Walk. Due to the physical demands and psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been difficult for many of us to stay physically active. The key is making exercise a daily priority, and the holidays are no different. After your holiday meal, go on a virtual group walk through your respective neighborhoods to work off the food. Thanks to your smartphone’s camera, you can share your time outdoors and all of the interesting sights along the way. (Yes, the new playground in the local park looks fantastic, and the neighbors really did just paint their house purple!)

If you do gather, be safe.

I know some of you will read this and then gather with your loved ones anyways. If you do, please be safe and follow the CDC guidelines and consider these recommendations from the NIH Blog for safe gatherings:

Stay Safe. If you plan to go ahead and join a holiday gathering in person, it’s important to remain vigilant, even when interacting with dear friends and loved ones. The greatest risk for spread of COVID-19 right now is these family gatherings. Remember there are risks associated with travel and with interacting with people who’ve not been tested for the coronavirus prior to the event, especially if they reside in a COVID hot spot—which is almost everywhere these days. Try to keep any family gatherings brief and relatively small, about five people or less. If the weather permits, hold the get-together outdoors.

To protect yourself and your loved ones, both now and over the holidays, please follow these 3 W’s:

• Wear a mask when you are out in public and when you are indoors with people who are not part of your immediate household. The only exception is while eating or drinking!

• Watch your distance, staying at least 6 feet away from people who are not part of your immediate household.

• Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently.

I don’t have all the answers, but as a nurse I would say do not gather. As a person, I understand if you do but please do it safely.

As an Emergency Department nurse for 10 years, I want you not to gather this holiday season. I will be spending Thanksgiving with my favorite non-family people - my ED co-workers at work in the emergency department. We want to be able to help you if you need it, so please consider not gathering if you can so that we can gather safely next year without the risk of COVID-19.

As a person, I have not seen my family in a year. They live in the Southeast while I live in California. I am a nurse during a pandemic. It has not been in the cards to travel safely this year to see them.

For the holidays, I am going to be flying home to see family. However I am taking a huge amount of time off to do so as safely as possible. I will be flying to Georgia and quarantining for 2 weeks with planned COVID-19 testing for me and the husband, then seeing family in small groups outside with masks on and at least six feet apart when possible with so much hand washing and sanitizing that my skin is already raw thinking about it. I am staying in a separate space, a rental that we have for the entire time we are there plus a rented car. Then upon the return, I will be quarantining for 2 weeks at home.

(I am incredibly lucky to have the flexibility and resources to be able to make this complicated trek. I know that this is not realistic for most.)

This is an impossible time, and we are having to make impossible decisions. Please just know that every decision you make will have repercussions that you must be ready to face if and when they come.

Be well and be safe.

Sarah @ New Thing Nurse

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About the Author - Sarah K. Wells, MSN, RN, CEN, CNL is an educator, speaker, blogger and owner of New Thing Nurse, a professional and academic coaching company for the nursing world. New Thing Nurse is organized to provide support and guidance to aspiring nurses, newly graduated nurses, and veteran RNs looking to make a change in their life. 

Whether it’s a new school, new job or new idea,

New Thing Nurse wants to help with your new thing!

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Have PPE Shortage Stories? Congress wants to hear them!

Have a story about challenges with PPE while working in healthcare during COVID19? Congress wants to hear from you!

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is asking for health care workers to submit their experiences trying to obtain personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I want to hear the stories of the people being affected by these shortages—nurses, EMTs, doctors and health care providers struggling to get PPE. Lifting up these stories in the coming weeks will be crucial to Congress’ understanding of the work ahead.”

Stories can be emailed to PPEshortages@finance.senate.gov. The deadline for submissions is August 31st. All personal information will be redacted unless requested otherwise

This is your chance to have your stories, your stress, and your frustrations heard. I shared my story. I would love to have our collective stories shared to see if we can make a difference in the availability of PPE for all frontliners in the United States. 

- Sarah @ New Thing Nurse

Here is the testimony I sent to Senator Ron Wyden via my emergency nurse colleague, Penelope Blake:

“My name is Sarah K. Wells, MSN, RN, CEN, CNL. I am a Registered Nurse who has worked in emergency and radiology medicine since 2010. I live in Oakland, California and work at two hospitals in the Bay Area.

I am writing to you today to share my experiences with the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) shortages that are facing the frontline healthcare workforce in the United States. For nearly 10 years, I have worked in the hospital setting. As a nurse, I come to work each shift to care for those in need. In the emergency department, I see patients from newborns to the elderly and am responsible for being able to care for minor to the most complex medical conditions in collaboration with interdisciplinary care teams. I am trained to respond to disasters in often hazardous conditions and have learned to utilize a wide variety of PPE to prevent exposure to infectious diseases and hazardous materials. From being trained to care for patients with Ebola to those suffering from chemical burns, I know that I must protect myself so that I can care for others.

The majority of the PPE that I am trained to use is single-use, single-patient items. This means that I would wear PPE for use with one patient encounter and then dispose of it. Imagine a patient with tuberculosis, an infectious disease spread through airborne transmission. Historically, I would have that patient in a private, isolation room in the emergency department. To enter the room safely and care for the patient, I would put on a N95 respirator mask, a specialized mask that filters out approximately 95% of airborne particles, along with other appropriate, single-use PPE per my facility's policy, enter the room, complete my patient care, exit the room, and throw that N95 respirator mask and other PPE away in the trash. I would then perform the appropriate hand hygiene and move on with my work day. Whenever I needed to re-enter that patient's room, I would then put on a fresh N95 respirator mask and PPE, complete the necessary care, and dispose of PPE upon every exit from the patient's room. In this way, I never put on "dirty" masks or other equipment, meaning masks that have been exposed to germs from previous encounters in the tuberculosis patient's room. I never risk exposing myself to that patient's germs by putting on the "dirty" PPE, and I would never wear "dirty" PPE into another patient's room. I have gone through dozens of masks per shift in the past without thinking twice because it was the standard of safety and best care for my patient and the policy of my employer.

All of that changed this year when COVID-19 came to the United States. In March, early rumors of N95 respirator mask shortages started to circulate. Then there was discussion that we may need to start extending the use of our single-use N95 masks. This seemed impossible. How could we re-use a single-use item? It went against our infection prevention policies and put us at risk for exposure to infectious germs. I assumed this was just talk until my emergency nurse colleagues from across the United States started to tell me that it was true and happening. And soon, it was not just re-using the N95 masks for a few hours, but the whole shift, and then multiple days. By the end of March, I had colleagues telling me that they were using the same N95 masks for weeks at a time. And then, I was told by many friends and acquaintances that nurses and other medical staff were caring for COVID-19 patients with no N95 masks at all because there were none to be had. This would have been an unacceptable situation in January and now, it was becoming the norm.

At my facility in California, we did not face this reality until sometime in April. We have thankfully never completely run out of N95s. However we have been encouraged to extend the use of our single-use N95s for multiple shifts, being given cardboard containers that you would normally use in our cafeteria to get a hamburger to-go, to store our masks in between uses. Our emergency department, like most in the United States, also has a limited amount of Power Air Purifying Respirators (PAPRs) units, battery powered machines that are attached to plastic hoods, that can be used for working safely with COVID-19 patients. However these units are expensive and most emergency departments only have a hand full. These are sufficient for caring for small numbers of patients, but not for managing large quantities of COVID-19 patients all at once. And then there are emergent situations, for example where a person's heart stops and a team of people are needed in the room to perform life-saving measures, you may need 3 to 5 PAPRs at the same time for just one patient. That can easily be the department's entire supply of PAPRs. If a department is out of N95 masks and all the PAPRs are in use in one room, there is no way to safely care for the dozens to hundreds of other COVID-19 patients that you may have at the moment in your emergency department.

Furthermore, there is the rest of the hospital to consider. While the emergency department is specially trained to handle disasters headon with advanced PPE and a supply of PAPRs at the ready, most inpatient units have even less training and PPE supplies available. When COVID-19 initially hit, the majority of hospitals quickly depleted their PPE reserves and were scrambling to train all their staff to safely take care of our high-risk patients. And then the supply chain for PPE was broken, and facilities could not refill their supplies of PPE or procure more PAPRs. The inpatient units were caring for patients with not just re-used PPE, but insufficient PPE which put themselves and their patients at risk. Caring for a COVID-19 patient with a surgical mask is not safe because the surgical mask does not protect the person from COVID-19 exposure. Surgical masks only prevent my germs from spreading to others. And while many facilities are requiring all staff and patients to wear surgical masks, which in theory will greatly limit the spreading of germs, most of our hospital patients cannot keep a mask on due to their oxygen support needs, feeding tubes, anxiety, or confusion. Nurses and medical staff must have a N95 respirator at minimum to ensure they are not exposed to COVID-19 germs. This lack of PPE has had deadly consequences. Since this pandemic has started, there have been nearly 115,000 COVID-19 cases and nearly 600 deaths due to COVID-19 among healthcare workers in the United States. 

In addition to being a practicing nurse in the hospital setting, I also am the Founder of New Thing Nurse, a company committed to supporting the nursing community through a variety of services and platforms. Through New Thing Nurse and my nursing professional organizations, I have contacts with nurses across the United States. When I started getting reports of the limited PPE in the United States, I started making calls and inquiries to see if I could find PPE sources for those in need. I quickly found that the normal sources for N95 respirator masks available to the public, such as hardware and paint stores, were completely out of inventory. I made contacts with hospital buyers, the staff in charge of stocking PPE for healthcare facilities, to see if there was a way that I could purchase N95 masks in bulk. I was quickly told that no sources were to be found.

I started reaching out to the community. I started receiving donations of PPE from individual citizens. People who had a few masks here and there for emergencies or painting projects. I started fundraising and putting small PPE orders together where I could find small sources online on the secondary market, from sources like Ebay and Craigslist, paying outrageous prices but getting small quantities of masks and other PPE items that were also becoming short supply.

To date, I have sent out and coordinated nearly 5,000 PPE items donations to frontline healthcare workers to 14 states with an estimated cost of $9,000+. I am just one small example of such an effort to keep friends, colleagues, and other medical workers in the appropriate PPE that they need to care for COVID-19 patients safely. Huge organizations like GetUsPPE.org and A Million Masks have emerged to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars and distribute millions of masks. These are projects created by private citizens to close a basic supply gap that employers and the government have failed to remedy. This failure has caused the illness and death of care providers across the United States, dedicated citizens who have devoted their lives to caring for others. While they were caring for us, we failed to care for them.

Here is one email that I received from a mobile x-ray technician in Texas who requested PPE from New Thing Nurse: 

“Hello Sarah! I heard about you in the ... group on Facebook. It’s funny the timing as today after my shift I sat in my car and broke down crying.

I’m a mobile X-ray tech for ... in Texas. We service facilities, homes, long term care and jails all over Texas. Every single facility we service has Covid patients. Nursing homes and jails are especially rampant with it.

In the past three weeks there has not been one day I have done several x-rays on a positive patient. The majority of the facilities expect us as an outside contract to provide our own PPE. We are a very small company so finding them is scarce, I have been reusing the same gear several times over. My neighbor got me an N95 from her husbands laboratory. That’s how serious it is. Working at a small company we worry about publicly reaching out for PPE for fear of getting reprimanded. I don’t have anything negative to say about my employers, I honestly believe they are trying to get us PPE. But each day I literally go to work trembling worrying that it’s not going to be enough and I’m going to expose my family by not being adequately protected. I’m typing this in tears.

Today was an especially hard day as staff at one of the jails I was servicing were fighting over who was to receive a single mask. This is the same jail apart of a very large corporation that told me I needed to bring my own PPE but calls me everyday to image their Covid patients. Tensions were high and I reminded them we have to protect ourselves and our patients. There is a nurse who sneaks me PPE when she can, it is a very humbling experience to have to beg for that every shift. This is one of the most stressful times of my life. I will send my company info in the next email I’m typing on my phone.’’

The PPE shortage in the United States is a completely inexcusable failure. There is no reason that in a country as rich and powerful as ours that our medical workers should ever be without the appropriate equipment needed to provide the best and safest care to our patients. In the year 2020, healthcare workers have begged for PPE by going door-to-door in their communities, for PPE that should be provided as a standard workplace safety item by their employers. I implore you to take the necessary steps to finding a solution and keeping our frontline healthcare workers safe by providing appropriate PPE for all.’’

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The Beauty of Masks

Masks can be such a simple thing.

From a just a piece of cloth across your lower face (always covering your nose and mouth) to high-end pieces of technology with valves, filters, full eye protection, and many more bells and whistles, the mask has recently become a major part of everyone’s lives.

As COVID-19 cases continue to skyrocket across the United States, the wearing of a simple cloth mask (along with washing your hands, staying at least 6 feet from others, and staying home when possible) has been hearalded as one of the best infection prevention measures that any member of the public can take to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

On Monday, the American Hospital Association (AHA), the American Medical Association (AMA), and the American Nurses Association (ANA) even joined forces to issue a joint letter to the public urging them to wear masks to help prevent the transmission of COVID-19:

July 6, 2020

An open letter to the American public,

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have urged the American people to protect themselves, their neighbors and their loved ones amidst the worst global health crisis in generations. After months of physical distancing and staying at home, infections and deaths began to decline.

But in the weeks since states began reopening, some of the steps that were critical to the progress we made were too quickly abandoned. And we are now watching in real-time as a dramatic uptick in COVID-19 cases is erasing our hard-won gains. Hospitals in some states are at or nearing their ICU capacity. Shortages of personal protective equipment and testing supplies continue to pose a dire threat to health care workers and patients alike. And last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci told Congress that the U.S could see 100,000 new coronavirus cases each day if we do not take more precautions.

This is why as physicians, nurses, hospital and health system leaders, researchers and public health experts, we are urging the American public to take the simple steps we know will help stop the spread of the virus: wearing a face mask, maintaining physical distancing, and washing hands. We are not powerless in this public health crisis, and we can defeat it in the same way we defeated previous threats to public health—by allowing science and evidence to shape our decisions and inform our actions.

The toll of this pandemic is already staggering, and it will take many more months, perhaps years, to truly understand its impact on our country and our way of life. But what is certain – and what the science and evidence are telling us – is that COVID-19 is not behind us and we must resist confusing re-opening with returning to normalcy. Doing so will escalate this crisis and result in more suffering and death.

To those of you who are doing your part in helping turn the tide of this pandemic – thank you. Your actions are critical to stopping the spread of COVID-19. Moving forward, we must all remain vigilant and continue taking steps to mitigate the spread of the virus to protect each other and our loved ones. There is only one way we will get through this – together.

Your continued partners in health,

American Hospital Association
American Medical Association
American Nurses Association

Masks are here to help. They will help keep our communities healthy. Masks are simple and accessible to everyone. And they can be ever so cute!

I am personally loving the many styles of masks that I am seeing being made available for donation and sale. Here are a few of my favorites from free to high-end (click any of the images to go to the company websites):

Dhvani Mask from Dhvani - Free

Black Floral Face Mask from LAFaceMasks.com - $6.50

Reversible Non Surgical Fashion Mask and Head Wrap Set from SonSon.com - $45.00

It’s a simple thing, the cloth mask. And how easy it is to wear, style, and use to prevent the spread of illness is a true thing of beauty.

- Sarah @ New Thing Nurse

*None of the companies featured in this post are affiliates of New Thing Nurse. I just truly love their stuff.*

Resources:

AHA, AMA, ANA Joint Letter to the Public Supporting Masks

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC): Use Cloth Face Covers to Slow the Spread of COVID-19

World Health Organization (WHO): When & How to Use Masks

And if you have any Hamilton lovers, this is for you:

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Corona Conversations Vol. 3: Living with the Trauma from COVID19 for Nurses with Lauren Funiestas

Being a nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic is not just hard, it’s traumatic.

Did you ever think of that?

I was lucky enough to sit down with my dear friend and favorite human, Lauren Funiestas, an experienced mental health provider who is passionate about providing multicultural, trauma informed care, for an insightful conversation about the stress and trauma that working during COVID19 has caused for the mental health fo frontline healthcare workers. We talked about how best to manage that stress and what you can do to be mentally and emotionally well during this challenging time.

And like any good conversation, we recorded it on Zoom! Enjoy the latest edition of Corona Conversations over on the New Thing Nurse YouTube channel. Cheers!

Bio: Lauren Funiestas is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist who has worked exclusively in the forensic/community mental health field since 2007. She is currently preparing to take the California BBS license exam. She’s provided multicultural, trauma informed and mindfulness based individual/group therapy, case management and psycho education services within residential treatment facilities, school-based children’s mental health programs, public health clinics and detention facilities. Lauren received her Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from San Francisco State University and her Master of Arts from John F Kennedy University’s Holistic Counseling / Transpersonal Psychology program. Lauren self identifies as a Transnational feminist, Filipina/Island girl and a champion for the advancement of communities of color within the mental health field. She believes strongly in decolonization, honoring the spirit and using all of your paid time off for self care. Lauren is a former body builder, white belt jiu jitsu champion (that counts) and her favorite TV character is Olivia Benson from Law & Order SVU.

Resources for Mental Health Support:

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 1-800-273-8255

• Crisis Text Line - Text HOME to 741741 from anywhere in the USA

• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) - https://www.nami.org

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Corona Conversations Vol. 2: Working a COVID-19 Relief Travel Assignment in NYC, Being a New Nurse during the Pandemic, & more with Mica David of @registerednoire

Remember how hard it was being a new nurse? No imagine that you are a new nurse during a pandemic.

COVID-19 has been a challenge for everyone in the medical field but for our new nurses, it has been a real shift show. No one taught them to be prepared for a pandemic in nursing school. This year has been a real baptism by fire for us all, and one new nurse has jumped in head first into the chaos.

I want to introduce you to Mica David of @registerednoire. Mica and I met through the Emergency Nurses Association this year, and I have been following her ever since. Mica is a young nurse from Georgia (my home state!) who started her career at a busy Level II trauma center emergency department last year and has recently transitioned to travel nursing. Mica is currently working NYC on a COVID-19 relief contract as her first assignment!

I got to sit down with Mica on one of her days off to discuss what it is like working in NYC on a disaster relief assignment, being a new nurse during COVID-19, and what she is doing to cope with the stress of it all. Mica has some great tips for newer nurses considering travel nursing and shares her post-shift COVID-19 decon process for her apartment (this was fascinating to me - i’m a mega-nerd). Happy watching!

- Sarah @ New Thing Nurse

Follow Mica’s adventures on social media:

Instagram - @registerednoire

YouTube - @registerednoire

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Corona Conversations Vol 1: Nursing, Stress, Mental Health, PPE, & more with Sarah of New Thing Nurse & Anna of The Burnout Book

Is this pandemic over yet?

We’ve officially been sheltered in place for over a month here in Oakland, California, and I am feeling it. The stress of everything related to the novel corona virus/COVID-19 is making life in and out of the hospital hard. I have had up’s and down’s with my mental health. I feel that I am now on an upswing, but that definitely can change day-to-day. Some shifts at work are awful - I had a total meltdown this week in the ED. Other shifts are just fine.

On Monday, 4/13, I had the chance to sit down and chat with Anna Rodriguez of The Burnout Book via the almighty Zoom and discuss everything that is going on with nursing in the time of COVID-19. We decided to record the conversation and share it with you all. I hope you enjoy!

Without further ado, I present to you Corona Conversations Vol 1 on the brand new New Thing Nurse YouTube channel:

Description: Sarah from New Thing Nurse and Anna Rodriguez from The Burnout Book have a Corona Conversation about the status of their nurse mental health and wellness as of 4/13/2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sarah and Anna also have a robust discussion on COVID-19 stress and the PPE shortage, how that affects our ability to provide compassionate patient care, and tools on how to reconnect with our patients and nursing community. Plus get Anna and Sarah's Top 3 Tips of the Week on how to make it work as a nurse during the novel corona virus crisis. Enjoy!

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