{"id":19477,"date":"2020-06-22T16:15:12","date_gmt":"2020-06-22T16:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=19477&post_type=story"},"modified":"2024-01-03T16:35:14","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T16:35:14","slug":"why-i-fight-on-the-frontline","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/why-i-fight-on-the-frontline\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Fight on the Frontline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer 2020 | By<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>Stephen Brennan ’15<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

[lead]This past February I was celebrating a birthday with a\u00a0few friends and our pack of dogs in a snow-covered cabin\u00a0in the North Carolina mountains with few cares. We were\u00a0all happy, healthy, employed and living in a time when the\u00a0coronavirus<\/a> was still a somewhat small news story in the\u00a0United States.[\/lead]<\/p>\n

If someone told me that fewer than two months later\u00a0I would quit my job, drive from Orlando to New York, and\u00a0start working as a nurse in a pandemic-ravaged state, I\u00a0would have brushed it off with an eye roll and a dismissive\u00a0laugh. But here I am, months later, working in the worst hit\u00a0state in our country.<\/p>\n

After graduating from UCF with my nursing degree<\/a>,\u00a0I was able to land my dream job at Orlando Regional\u00a0Medical Center, which has Central Florida’s only Level I\u00a0trauma center. During those five years, I was exposed to\u00a0all types of patient care, including severe medical and\u00a0traumatic cases. With each patient that came through our\u00a0doors, I learned to work without fear and to be ready with\u00a0little or no warning.<\/p>\n

Little did I know that I soon would use these skills\u00a0outside of the trauma room \u2014 when I felt the call to go\u00a0to New York.<\/p>\n

I resigned from my position and accepted a traveling\u00a0nurse position as an intensive care unit nurse. I was\u00a0experiencing every emotion from paralyzing fear to\u00a0what-could-possibly-happen-next excitement, but\u00a0fortunately what made this transition easier is that I\u00a0didn’t do it alone. Two other nurses also decided to serve\u00a0in New York. About 17 hours and nearly 1,100 miles later,\u00a0we arrived ready for duty.<\/p>\n

We walked into the hospital with no idea what to expect.\u00a0Normally we are ER nurses, but we were assigned to\u00a0work in an ICU because of the desperate need for capable\u00a0nurses. I walked in and read my first assignment \u2014 in the\u00a0basement. After a split second of fear, I pushed my mind\u00a0back to my ER training: Don’t be scared, just be ready.<\/p>\n

After going down a series of stairs and dimly lit\u00a0hallways, I arrived in the basement, where a research\u00a0library had been converted to an ICU to accommodate the\u00a0rapidly growing intake of critical patients. This basement\u00a0wasn’t the only reconfigured space. Nearly all possible\u00a0areas were converted in a similar fashion to provide the\u00a0best care possible.<\/p>\n

At that instant, there are few words that could\u00a0accurately describe what I felt.<\/p>\n

In a moment when I didn’t know exactly what to do,\u00a0I went through the routine of donning my personal\u00a0protective equipment: gown, double gloves, mask, goggles,\u00a0face shield and hair cap. This familiar uniform helped calm\u00a0my thoughts as I walked through the basement doors into\u00a0the ICU to begin my first shift. I had to force myself not to\u00a0drop my jaw and break the seal on my treasured N95 mask.<\/p>\n

But I had less control over my eyes. They grew bigger and\u00a0bigger as I scanned the unit. I had to fight back tears as I\u00a0saw firsthand the seriousness of this pandemic and the fight\u00a0these patients were experiencing. There were 14 patients\u00a0lined up around a temporary wall that housed medical oxygen\u00a0and suction supply. Patients were positioned about 3 feet\u00a0apart and connected to different ventilators, medication\u00a0pumps, blood transfusion pumps, and everything else you\u00a0would expect to see in a large ICU but crammed in a small\u00a0area the size of a conference room. Patients I had only read\u00a0about now had faces, names and families.<\/p>\n

As I felt a tear form, my mind flashed back to a great nurse\u00a0mentor of mine who chanted words of encouragement\u00a0using a favorite movie reference: “Brennan, ain’t no crying\u00a0in baseball!” She said this as a reminder to stay strong \u2014 for\u00a0these patients and my fellow nurses. With that, I blinked\u00a0my tear away and got to work.<\/p>\n

Whether it was suctioning airways, repositioning patients\u00a0in bed, frequent medication administrating and titrating,\u00a0and continuous monitoring, there wasn’t a moment that\u00a0went by in that first 13-hour shift when something wasn’t\u00a0alarming and in need of immediate attention.<\/p>\n

That 13-hour day became the norm, four days a week.<\/p>\n

No two patients have the same symptoms. No two\u00a0patients have the same course of treatment. Every patient\u00a0responds differently as this disease progresses. Because\u00a0of the inability to predict the virus, the plan of care is a\u00a0reaction to what symptoms arise, which makes it a difficult\u00a0battle to fight. Nevertheless, we continue to fight our best\u00a0for our patients’ recovery.<\/p>\n

Only a few months ago, I was sitting at my house with my\u00a0dogs and knew what to expect each day. Today, I’m sitting in\u00a0an Airbnb in Jamaica, Queens, with two friends \u2014 and I have\u00a0no idea what to expect when my contract ends in June.<\/p>\n

However, amid the uncertainty and unknown, I\u00a0absolutely love what I do. And I know that I will continue\u00a0to work the front line wherever I’m needed most.<\/p>\n

Stephen Brennan ’15<\/strong> spent five years working at Orlando\u00a0Regional Medical Center, where he received his certification\u00a0in emergency nursing as well as a national Daisy Award for\u00a0extraordinary nurses.<\/em><\/p>\n

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