Nurse Amber Rampy stresses that one way to reduce the number of patients in their unit is to get more people vaccinated.
Nurse Amber Rampy has been dealing with a fourth wave of COVID cases at her hospital and says the situation is taking its toll on her mental health.
“It’s been a tough year,” she explains. “I just left on Friday because I can’t do it anymore….I just cant…”
Rampy spent the last 20 months working in the COVID unit at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, and she says it’s not getting any easier to deal with the worst parts of her job.
“Although I’m used to people dying, I’m just not used to this many.”
And she says this latest wave is killing her younger patients. ”Now they’re like 45, and their kids are like 12, and you have to tell them daddy’s dying. It's terrible.”
The hospital opened its doors to give the media a glimpse into what health care workers are going through. At least 75 people died from COVID in August, including two patients during the media event.
”Our highest peak was back in January when we had 355 patients in our health system,” Dr. Deepak Aggarwal, Chief of Medical Staff, notes. “If the current modeling holds were looking at 450 to 500.”
Health care workers say one way to reduce the number of patients in their unit is to get more people vaccinated.
And as for Nurse Rampy, she hopes sharing her story and experiences will motivate more people to do the right thing.
”Individuals make poor choices, and you have to take care of them. But as an overwhelming group, it's upsetting."
