The ICU nurse, who has worked at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula since 1992, canвЂ™t imagine stepping away from the identity she carries at her core. ItвЂ™s not just what she does itвЂ™s who she is. ThatвЂ™s who we are.вЂќ Coming to terms with COVID care IВ remember his process, and I looked up to him. вЂњAfter the Firestone Company closed in Spreckels, he went to school to become a nurse. The Seaside High School graduate earned her AA and nursing degrees from Monterey Peninsula College before going on to achieve her Bachelor of Science in nursing. As a child, she wore a nurseвЂ™s uniform for Halloween. Guerrero, who has been a nurse for 21 years, knew before sheвЂ™d finished high school that this was her passionate pursuit. Having to connect families by phone at such a crucial moment is hard.вЂќ

WeвЂ™re going to sedate her, so talk now.вЂ™ ThisВ makes me cry.

вЂњI told her daughter, вЂTalk to your mom she can hear you. The patient kept trying to phone her daughter but couldnвЂ™t manage it. Guerrero remembers one patient, struggling to breathe, who was about to be put on a ventilator. A lot of time, the patient is no longer conscious and aware, but their families are, and that has been so painful for them not to be there.вЂќ During COVID, the biggest challenge has beenВ that we canвЂ™t do that. If thereвЂ™s nothing medically we can do, we want to help patientsВ pass as comfortably as possible,В and support their families. вЂњWorking in ICU,вЂќ said Guerrero, вЂњwe deal a lot in death and dying, and end-of-life situations.

Yet, for more than 18 months, COVID has required nurses to go above and beyond their commitment to care, to work long hours behind layers of personal protective equipment (PPE), to put their fears aside, to marshal stress into motivation, and care for patients who might not make it.ДЄt the end of their shift, nurses shed their scrubs and their sadness before entering their homes to focus on their families and, somehow, regroup, so they can return to the hospital for their next shift. The pledge doesnвЂ™t say anything about a pandemic. (Photo courtesy of Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula) The pledge was later named the Florence Nightingale Pledge in honor of the legendaryВ founder of modern nursing.ДЄ COVID patient being cared for by a Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula ICU team. Gretter and her committee, to focus on faithfully practicing the nursing profession as dedicated advocates of the patient. Especially during COVID, when friends and family cannot be at the bedside.Д«ack in 1893, the Hippocratic Oath of ethics, historically taken by physicians, was modified by nursing champion Lystra E. No nurse, she says, would let a patient die alone. I was trying to run down the hall to my next patient, and I just stopped and realized the importance of what this nurse was doing.вЂќ Those are the moments when we need to slow down and breathe. As nurses, we canвЂ™t cry at the bedside we have to function, we have to think, we have to act. вЂњThe ICU was full, and we were running like crazy, but here was this new nurse,вЂќ Guerrero said, вЂњwho completely got it. His patient was dying, and he wasnвЂ™t going to have her die alone.

The ICU nurse was working among COVID patients at Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System, navigating need and trying to manage expectations, when she noticed a young nurse quietly sitting in a patientвЂ™s room, holding her hand.

Cry for fear