Resiliency tips from a front-line nurse

Registered Nurse Patty Jansen is all about positivity.

“I can honestly say that since March when COVID-19 started, it has had a positive and negative impact on my personal life,” explains Jansen, who has been a nurse at Aurora BayCare Medical Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for over 4 years, but has been a caregiver for over 26 years total. “To focus on the positive aspects, I am spending more quality time with my children and husband. I am finding a little more time to do the things I enjoy doing with a little less pressure of running here and there and trying to fit everything into a 24-hour day.”

Not to mention, she’s a notable fan of online shopping and curbside pickup.

“It is a cost-saver and time-saver!” she says.

Keeping perspective during a pandemic is challenging, no doubt. To combat the stresses of being on the COVID-19 frontlines, being a mother of two preteen children attending virtual school, and finding time to bond with her children and fellow essential-worker husband, Jansen knows she needs real-life resiliency solutions.

So, what works well for her?

“​I try to lump my work shifts together to work 3 to 4 days in a row to receive a few days off at a time. It is exhausting!” Jansen says. “I exercise on my days off to keep my energy levels up, and I stick to a whole food diet to relieve the fatigue I feel from sugar, processed foods, and gluten-containing foods.”

In addition to exercising and eating right, she suggests people find joy and purpose in the things they love doing, such as:

• Gardening
• Crafting
• Sewing
• Scrapbooking
• Spending time with family that lives in your household
• Play board games
• Do jigsaw puzzles

At least, those are the things that are effective for Jansen to recharge and stay resilient. She encourages others to explore their interests, which can include listening to or performing music, meditation and reflection, journaling, watching a movie you know you love, taking a bubble bath, cooking, reorganizing, and so on, adding,

“So far, my son and I have put together 24 puzzles since the start of COVID in March,” she says.

Though she tries her best to stay positive, Jansen is not blind to the hardships of this pandemic for all involved, especially her patients who are not only battling COVID-19, but also cannot have their own families with them due to visitor restrictions.

“I sit with them when needed, cry with them, laugh with them, hold their hand when they are scared, and listen to them to help them get through some of the toughest times of their lives,” Jansen says. “Being there for my patients while they are battling this virus means that I need to step up, not only as their nurse caring for them, but also as their direct support system.”

It’s her empathetic and compassionate nature and respect for each and every patient that drives her forward, no matter how hard it is.

“For patients, it is scary, it is lonely, it is boring,” Jansen says. “Knowing that I am there for them, not only as a nurse, but as their only person-to-person contact during their hospital stay brings me sadness and strength at the same time; sadness that they cannot see their family or interact with them on a physical level, but strength as a nurse and a person to assist them through one of the scariest parts of their lives.”

To get past this, she urges the community to think bigger, continuing to mask up, maintain social distancing and generally just stay safe.

“This is not just about how the virus is going to affect you; it is about how it is going to affect others around you as well. If you have or have had COVID and had mild symptoms, you are lucky. The next person may not be as lucky as you are,” Jansen says. “The masks are necessary; they may not be comfortable, but they are necessary! If your mask is uncomfortable, try a different style until you find one that works for you. Trust me when I tell you wearing a bi-pap for days on end is way more uncomfortable than wearing a mask. Intubation is even more uncomfortable, and if you are a lucky one to improve and become extubated, you may end up with a tracheostomy, you may need the bi-pap again, you may need to be re-intubated, you may need oxygen for an extended time. There are many unknown factors on how you or your loved one will react once contracting the virus. Please take the necessary precautions seriously. This is not joke; it is not political. This is real life.”