The COVID-19 pandemic has especially impacted those on the front lines of this battle in the health care profession. Here’s an update from Whitni Borgman (FCS Class of 2014) on her experience working in a hospital during this challenging time.
Hello! I’m Whitni! I graduated from Faith in 2014 and went on to graduate with a degree in Radiographic Technology from Indiana University in 2018. So, in normal people language, I’m an x-ray tech! I work at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, IN, which is my area’s only and largest Level 2 trauma center. We are used to seeing a lot of crazy injuries and traumas come in through our doors!
However, COVID-19 has been the craziest thing yet to come into our hospital! Never could I have imagined running low on PPE (personal protective equipment) or going from 80-90 surgeries a day to 5 on the schedule because we can’t afford to use any extra PPE or risk exposing surgical patients. Whole departments have been deemed “unnecessary” during this time, and employees are being redeployed to areas in which they have little to no knowledge.
Nowhere in my training was I prepared for the reality that I am now working in every day. COVID-19 dominates our daily emails, conversations, and most of my thoughts throughout the day. It causes us all stress emotionally, financially, physically, and mentally. The CDC tells us different information every day, and I’m constantly questioning if I’m taking the correct precautionary actions to protect myself. Sometimes I question if I should even risk eating and drinking at work! I never know at the end of the workday if that was the day that I finally ended up contracting COVID-19 myself.
Patients that have COVID-19 probably feel the most isolated of all. I can’t imagine being what is essentially “untouchable” during this pandemic. Employees come into their rooms dressed in a way that keeps us safe but also keeps them void of any real human contact. No visitors are allowed. I pray for our patients every day, and during the times that I am with them, I try so hard to share love and show kindness! Please remember to do the same for others during this foreign and strange time!
With all of that being said, there is also so much to be thankful for and so many ways to see God’s love during this time. I challenge myself every day to keep positivity and love in the forefront of my mind and to help my coworkers accomplish the same! So many people have reached out to thank the medical field, and it is so meaningful to be recognized that we are truly risking our own health and well-being every day! Different organizations have created a “food-train” that provides lunch and dinner daily. Seamstresses everywhere have showed up to provide us with the sewed masks that we wear all day every day! Some people have even decorated the sidewalks with chalk drawings and calligraphy to thank us as we walk into work!
We worship an all-knowing and all-powerful God, and I remember every day that He is in control! I am determined to stay positive despite the overwhelming concern that clouds the hospital right now. Thank you for all the love and prayers offered to myself and everyone else in the medical field!
