CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1334212
56 Februar y 2021 C A P E F E A R VA L L E Y L E A D S C O M M U N I T Y I N C OV I D F I G H T T heirs isn't the kind of experience that was covered in nursing school chemistry or physiology classes. In fact, nothing in nursing school prepared them for the challenges of the past year. "In the beginning, it was scary," said Lakisha Kelly, the 42-year-old charge nurse for Cape Fear Valley Medical Center's 8 South, the floor where COVID-19 patients receive care. "But then we began to feel like we were making history. We had to learn a new way of nursing and we know that what we are doing Is making a difference." Since March, she and her staff of 64 have been working around the clock to care for patients who aren't able to have in-person visits from family or friends. She and her staff are the ones on the frontline, putting themselves On The Front Line BY KIM HAST Y at risk as they cope with the virus that is exhausting for patients and caregivers. ey've celebrated the times that patients have been able to heal and go home. But they've also cried as they held the hands of dying patients. "at's been hard on everyone," Kelly said. "Especially knowing you tried your very best to save their lives. It crushes you sometimes. ere have been times when we've had husband, wife, daughter and son all on the same floor." ere have been times when they've all cried together, but that's better, she said, than trying to keep your emotions inside. "We do try to talk about it, to talk it out and cry it out," she said. "We had that issue just yesterday. We were talking to a patient as she took her last breath. e nurses were crying; the respiratory therapist was crying." Kelly said she and her fellow nurses have been grateful for the support Cape Fear Valley has provided, including making sure her nurses have an ample supply of protective gear. She's also grateful that Cape Fear Valley was one of the first hospitals to begin administering the vaccine against COVID-19. But first- hand experience leads her to advise others to continue to take the disease seriously. Lakisha Kelly is proud of her staff, putting themselves at risk as they cope with the virus.