SARAH HEXEM HUBBARD: This is At the Core of Care. A podcast where people share their stories about nurses and their creative efforts to better meet the health AND healthcare needs of patients, families and communities.
I’m Sarah Hexem Hubbard, executive director of the Pennsylvania Action Coalition and the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re devoting some of our shows to hear from nurses who’ve volunteered to share their personal experiences with us.
We hope the firsthand accounts that we feature can help provide insight into what nurses are currently grappling with…AS WELL AS the ways in which the pandemic is influencing changes within the profession and how nurses view their future. We also hope hearing from nurses about their lived experiences at this time can be supportive to all of you nurses out there in some way or form.
On this episode, we’re going to hear from Jennifer Gil. She recently went back to work after contracting COVID-19. We’ll hear what her experience was like and how the pandemic has furthered her commitment to health leadership and public health.
And at the end of the show, if you feel inspired, we’ll let you know how you too can share your COVID-19 experience with us.
JENNIFER GIL: My name is Jennifer Gil and I'm currently a nurse. I work in the emergency department here in Philadelphia and I am also a graduate student. So I'm studying my Masters in Health leadership at the University of Pennsylvania. Outside of that, I actually am also on the board for the American Nurses Association. And in addition to that, I am also the new president elect for the non Philadelphia. It's the National Association of Hispanic Nurses.
I remember distinctly it was the beginning of March. You know, I started to see some real discussions happen and some changes in our hospital that we were trying to incorporate to prepare. You know, if we do get a surge, what's the best way to safely screen patients prior to them coming to the hospital, so we're not risking exposure. And we actually incorporated a redesign in how to screen patients and we started to screen them outside. And so the role of a nurse actually became a driveway nurse, which was new for me. You know, I'm very lucky. I work in a place where, you know, I feel very supported and we have supplies. And that has been a true weight off my shoulders. You know, as a clinical nurse, I don't feel like I have to worry about my safety when I go to work. And if there is a safety concern, I feel comfortable speaking up. And I know that's not the case for all nurses, but I think it's very important to have that security and advocate for it. For those who don't have it, because it's it's so heavy to be able to have the responsibility of caring for patients and then worry about am I being safe to my patients, myself and my family? So you really have to get creative and make sure that, you know, in all our care as we do change and innovate, you know, upgrade our clinical practice to, you know, treat these patients. Are we doing the right thing and being mindful of best practice?
As we have this conversation and talk about, you know, all the changes that were being made. And, you know, ]feeling that security of being safe and doing everything right. You know, as we started to see the need for social distancing. You know, I made the decision to, you know, be away from my family because I know as a high risk for exposure. So separating myself from my family was very difficult. But I was able to do it, luckily. And, you know, minding, you know, how I. You know, engaged in the community, whether it was going to the grocery store, you know, I was very mindful of washing my hands frequently carrying around hand sanitizer. And so I felt like I was doing everything right. I worked in a great hospital, felt supported, and I ended up developing symptoms and eventually testing positive for COVID 19 pretty early on. So I felt, you know, despite having that blanket of security, like I mentioned, I still was exposed and and became sick. So that for me was very difficult. It was very scary to be told that you have to get tested at the time. I was actually going into work and I had picked up several shifts to work as the driveway nurse. And in anticipation, work additional shifts that week. And so at that time, initially, I felt so excited to be able to do that. And we were screening ourselves coming in and we had to take our temperatures. And at that time, I did have a temperature of one hundred point three. And so I didn't have any other symptoms. I actually didn't feel. I felt like I had a fever. And I was told that I needed to go home and I needed to be tested. And so and initially, I wasn't quite denial because I didn't feel like I was sick, even though I knew that you could carry the the virus and not have many symptoms. But as the days progressed, I developed all the symptoms pretty much that are associated with COVID 19.
Like I said, I did everything right. I'm young. I'm healthy. I had everything really going for me and staying safe. And I still was exposed. So I think the message behind this is that we all have to be very careful. We all have to be mindful and we have to support each other. For me, getting sick was scary because you hear all these horrific stories. And, you know, I was able to manage fine at home. I had mild symptoms. And being mindful of, you know, managing that and communicating your symptoms with your physician, if it you do feel like you have symptoms and do test positive. Being safe about that. I think is very important. And, you know, luckily, I did have access to great care. I didn't have to worry about that. But we do have people who are vulnerable horn, you know, not able to stay home. They have to work. And so I do worry about that population a lot. And they think that it's important to be mindful of of those individuals in our community. If there's one good thing that's come from this is compassion and unity that I've seen, especially in our work environment. We're all in this together. We've been very supportive. We've been showered with, you know, food and good messages and constant support. And that has helped us greatly. I think we’ve learned to work together in these tough times. I think it really brings people in the whole community. I'm very grateful for the light this has shined on the nursing community and what we do when people are understanding: the work that we normally do every day. But people are seeing it now and it's a little differently in terms of the amount of patients that we're seeing. But really our care has been the same. And so it's nice to have that support. And I think that overall it's brought us together.
I actually am very hopeful what this will bring from this pandemic, like what changes in healthcare will occur as a result. Many of us are very resistant to change. And I think that is that goes across all disciplines, not just nursing, not just healthcare. And I think now we're seeing the possibilities, whether it's through innovation, whether it's through just completely thinking differently on how we do things. I think it's going to shift a lot of the conversations that we've we had before that were, you know, along the lines “Well, we can't do that. That seems a little bit impossible.” That's you know, I think that this is one thing that I'm hopeful we can improve and we can have, you know, drastic and positive changes that come from this.
It's definitely influenced my conversation, I've always been passionate about, you know, public health and addressing health disparities. You know, ever since I was a nursing student, you know, why I became a nurse and it was because of my mother. My family came from Columbia. You know, coming from a different country and access to care and, you know, some disparities that I witnessed growing up, you know, inspired me to go into this profession. And so I've always had that as a, you know, purposeful and passionate driver in my healthcare decision to become a nurse. But moreover now as I am finishing my masters, I'm studying for my master's in health leadership. And it's more so, you know, to be that influence and driving change. And it's the reason why I chose to become involved in healthcare and nursing organizations like the National Association of Hispanic Nurses and the American Nurses Association. But now with this pandemic, I’m definitely considering studying also for my master's in public health, because I think it's important. I think it's important to have those skills and to be a leader in healthcare to understand how we can improve our public health infrastructure.
As final thoughts, I just think it's important to know how important it is to have those conversations of well-being for nurses right now. Just as a person who has contracted COVID19 and that process. I think there was a very emotional and mental health component that also attributed to, you know my symptoms and getting better. I’ll be honest, I don't feel like I managed very well at first, more so because I was still so worried about, you know, my outside commitments, whether it was school or work and being mindful how my colleagues were doing. So I carried that weight a lot. And I also didn't feel comfortable reaching out to my family, the people I love and trust the most regarding how I was feeling because I didn't want to worry them. And so I don't feel like I truly had the support that I needed and it was my own decision. And so if I could go back in time, I think it would be to find a person, whether it was my family or someone who is not connected to my family, and I think being more vulnerable and opening up and talking to them, I think that would have probably helped me. And also letting go of all the commitments. But I think really focusing on well-being. And, you know, being mindful of that, I think was. Would have been better. So I think it's being mindful of those resources. I think we need to be creative in supporting healthcare workers throughout this.
SARAH: Special thanks to Jennifer Gil for taking time to talk with us.
And if you’re a nurse who would like to share your COVID-19 experience with us, you can send us a voice memo recorded on your smartphone. For more information about how to create and submit a voice memo, drop by our homepage at paactioncoalition.org. You can also find us on social media @PaAction.
Funding for At the Core of Care comes from the Center to Champion Nursing in America, which is a joint initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AARP, and the AARP Foundation…along with the Pennsylvania Action Coalition.
Stephanie Marudas of Kouvenda Media is our producer and we had production assistance from Brad Linder.
I’m Sarah Hexem Hubbard of the Pennsylvania Action Coalition and the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium. Thanks for joining us.
