Health care heroes: Volunteering to help her teammates
“No matter what specialty you are, all nurses are teammates.”
Danielle Diatte, a nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit at Advocate Children’s Hospital, was among the first to volunteer to help on the adult side in the fight against COVID-19. “I felt compelled to help my fellow nurses, some I know personally,” she says.
She describes working on a COVID unit as a completely unfamiliar experience.
“Everyone has had to learn new policies, procedures and expectations on the fly,” she said. “It can be stressful at times to be part of the unknown. We are discovering more about the virus and how to treat it every day.”
“Caring for COVID patients has been eye opening, and at times, emotional. You do your best to be careful to use your PPE and keep yourself safe,” she said. “We don’t want to bring the virus home to our families. But you also have to be present and brave for your patients. They’re alone in the hospital at a scary time.”
She describes the hospital as feeling very different these days.
“In some ways, it’s harder to come to work knowing the battle goes on, bringing with it uncertainty of what might be required of team members that day,” she said. “In other ways, nurses and all health care workers have formed a new bond over this common goal to fight COVID. Everyone is doing their best to look out for one another and support each other while we fight.”
Related Posts
Comments
About the Author
Holly Brenza, health enews contributor, is a public affairs coordinator on the content team at Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago. In her free time, Holly enjoys reading, watching the White Sox and Blackhawks, playing with her dog, Bear and running her cats' Instagram account, @strangefurthings.
