Health care ‘heroes’ feel, show gratitude

It was a simple gesture, sure, but Sara Carson was nevertheless eager to use it as an example of the public’s gratitude toward health care professionals such as herself amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I got free Sonic,” Carson said with a laugh. “Good enough for me.”

Carson, a registered nurse at the University of Kansas Health System St. Francis campus, also happens to be a self-described Vanilla Coke Zero fanatic, regularly stopping at the drive-through chain to order that beverage before heading into work. That ritual recently paid off — “It’s sad that (the carhop) knows me every morning, but she gave it to me for free,” Carson recalled.

Again, not the grandest gesture, but one of many meaningful acts for members of a medical community admittedly experiencing fear over the uncertainty of what lies ahead.

Shawnee County's number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases climbed to 28 on Saturday, with 23 of those patients still receiving medical treatment. A University of

Washington report released in late March projected COVID-19 to peak in Kansas in final week of April, with an expected 700 individuals in the state expected to die from the virus across the next four months.

A member of an intensive care unit adapting to new roles, responsibilities and procedures — navigating the limitations put on direct contact between patients and their family members, for example — Carson acknowledged the virus has affected every aspect of day-to-day operations at the health care facility.

“Nobody knows what this is really. We haven’t dealt with anything like this. ... Things are constantly changing. So we’re trying to communicate with family as things change,” she said. “I think it just brings us all to a point where we realize we don’t know as much as we thought we did.”

With that in mind, it’s perhaps comforting to know, as multiple members of the St. Francis team explained in interviews with The Topeka Capital-Journal, that the growing feeling of admiration between the public and the medical community does not exist on a one-way street.

‘We Are Here 4 You’

The idea came to Chantel Blasche while browsing social media, and she was pleased to discover a colleague was on the same page.

Blasche, a surgical scrub technician at St. Francis, wanted to solve a problem: What could the hospital do to let members of the community know they had their back during this crisis? Given the dynamics at play — St. Francis itself faced an uncertain future in October 2017, eliminating 60 jobs in a change-of-ownership transition that preceded the facility’s bounce-back — Blasche thought it an important message to share.

“They were here for us two years ago when we were about to close, so I thought, what can we do to let them know that we are here for them?” Blasche said. “... (The public) supported us at a very hard time, not knowing if we were going to have a job, if we were going to be open and how that was going to go down.”

The answer, Blasche realized, was to simply state the obvious.

Comprised of hearts that feature the names of surgeons, nurses, techs, housekeepers, orderlies and every other member of the surgical services team, a message reading “We Are Here 4 You” is now displayed on windows at the back of the facility.

Blasche came up with the idea while browsing the Hearts for Healthcare Workers page on Facebook, and when she went to pitch it to fellow scrub technician Donna Mears, she discovered her colleague had already started tracing and cutting out hearts.

“They’re looking for us for help,” said Patti Chartier, a registered nurse with the surgical services team. “We’re a strong hospital. Our surgery department is a very strong team. In crises that we’ve had before we’ve pulled together like nobody else. We come together, we work together and that’s just what we provide to our patients, the best care that we can, and to help people that can’t help themselves. We’re here for them.”

Personal touch

Peeling back the physical horrors that come with COVID-19 exposes a deeply disheartening interpersonal toll, too: Given the virus’ easily transmittable nature, afflicted patients or those suspected of carrying it cannot meet face-to-face with loved ones, a scenario that has often halted final gatherings that provide much-needed comfort and closure.

Mindful of that new reality, Michelle Spencer and her fellow registered nurses at St. Francis are taking matters into their own hands — quite literally, in fact.

Dealing with a recent patient unable to meet with his family, Spencer facilitated a conference call where both parties could say “what they needed to say,” she recalled. Throughout the tough session, Spencer fulfilled another meaningful role: She held the patient’s hand.

“We’re all humans,” Spencer said. “We all need some sort of physical touch, and this virus has everybody so scared to be around other people within a 6-foot range, or they’re going to get sick or contaminated. That is, yes, the case, our precautions from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), but we still need to be able to connect with our patients and give them that therapeutic touch and let them know that somebody is there that can care for them since their family can’t be here.”

Spencer couldn’t say whether that particular patient was COVID-19 positive, suspected or at the ICU for an unrelated reason, but regardless, the new protocols enacted by St. Francis would have been applicable to all scenarios.

The ICU wing of the facility is helping bridge telephonic and digital communications between all patients and their family members, giving updates by phone on any significant developments from 7 to 10 a.m. and again from 7 to 10 p.m. Phones have also been installed in every room, allowing for direct contact at a moment’s notice.

“It is very disheartening that they can’t be here, but our nurses are also stepping up,” Spencer said. “Whether they’re a positive patient or a patient under investigation, being able to sit in there, talk to them, be able to let their family talk to them even if they can’t talk back, that way they can have that connection virtually since they can’t be here physically.”

Beyond the emotionally taxing nature of these interactions, there is a physical element, too.

Before seeing a patient, the registered nurses must now put on a new set of clothing and headwear. That, along with special venting and equipment in some of the rooms, has at times created challenges in the communication process. After exiting, each nurse must be completely wiped down by other staff members and switch out of the clothing in a sanitary manner.

Carson, the 18-year professional, acknowledged the outbreak has created a scenario that is “way different” than what she thought being a nurse would entail.

“It’s scary at the same time because you do know that people get indirectly contaminated,” Carson said. “So I would think that we’re all very conscientious about that when we’re helping each other.”

All hands on deck

Members of the surgical services team have already begun cross-training in preparation for any patient overflow that may accompany a surge in COVID-19 patients. Those responsibilities range from tasks as simple as screening anyone who walks through the hospital’s entrances to assisting with some practices in ICU.

“We do have a number of things that we’re doing for our staff to (perform) other duties in the hospital,” said Sonya Boline, director of surgical services at St. Francis.

Under the most taxing of circumstances, the bond between team members at St. Francis appears to have only grown stronger, a statement that rings true from the top down.

“Really you hear it all the time, that it feels like a family, and in times like this it’s just amazing to me that we can even dig deeper into that culture,” said Lisa Alexander, registered nurse and chief nursing officer at St. Francis. “Seeing our teams come together and working with each other in new and different ways and critically thinking through a problem that nobody has experienced, and everybody being valued and listening to their perspective, has just been an overwhelmingly positive experience throughout this pandemic.

“I could not be more proud of the place that I work and the people that I get to work with.”

Alexander was adamant all credit goes to “frontline folks” like Spencer, Carson and others, who have been able to “transcend” the situation — “the heat, the anxiety” of those face-to-face encounters with patients, she used as an example — while still making strong connections with patients and fostering those pivotal interactions with their family members.

“That’s the essence of nursing, that’s the essence of health care,” Alexander said, “and it has lived out every day by the folks that are represented in the room that we’re talking about.”

‘Heroes work here’

Everyone likes snacks, registered nurse and ICU nurse manager Tammy Meeks said, and that’s as true a statement now as it ever has been.

Like Carson, Meeks had her own examples of gratitude expressed by the community toward health care professionals.

Multiple people have reached out and sent care packages to the hospital, with the staff now more than stocked up on snacks and treats. Businesses and others have offered to help make and donate masks. One man, who was having difficulty manipulating his wheelchair, stopped what he was doing to deliver his own message.

“He was thanking me for doing what I’m doing,” Meeks said, “and he had a smile on his face while he was struggling himself.”

Spencer noted a sign mysteriously showed up last week in the emergency room — “Heroes work here,” it read, colorful and decorated with stars.

“Nobody here knows who did it. We feel like it came from the community,” Spencer said. “I feel like that was a very, very nice gesture for them to do to let us know that they think of us working here during this pandemic time.”

While the gestures are very much appreciated, those inside the walls at St. Francis are more than aware that their biggest challenges almost certainly lie in the weeks ahead.

“I guess we don’t really know how it’s going to play out when the wrath of this really hits us,” Chartier said, “but I think in the meantime we have already planned and we are still planning and continue to plan for this to get people prepared for what is going to hit us. We’re all working together, we’re all scared, but we’re all coming together, and that’s helping this whole situation. …

“We’re going to get through this and get our patients through this.”

Carson concurred.

“We’re prepared for the worst,” she said, “but we hope for the best.”

Matt Galloway, The Topeka Capital-Journal