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Across the country, more nurses, doctors and other medical professionals have been speaking out about what it's like inside hospitals right now.Some of them talk about the mental exhaustion they're experiencing after months of watching patients die from COVID-19. Others urge the public to follow guidelines meant to curb the spread of the virus, while some share the stories of how they or a family member has been personally affected by the coronavirus. Here are a few stories from nurses working on the front lines. Carly Thomas, PennsylvaniaCarly Thomas has worked as a nurse at Excela Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg for nine years. In March, Thomas found out she would be among the first group of nurses assigned to the COVID-19 unit."That day those nurses prayed," Thomas said. "Then they just instantly started to plan what we were going to do and how we were going to take care of these patients." Throughout the course of the pandemic, medical professionals have gained a better understanding of how to treat the virus, but Thomas said the experience for those hospitalized is difficult to watch."We can only FaceTime with families," Thomas said. "We become their family. We become their supporters."Watch the video above to hear Thomas speak about what it's been like at her hospital.Thomas said the 15-bed unit she works in is full. All of the patients are battling COVID-19. She's watched first hand as people fought for their lives, some losing the battle."I've held the patients' hand while they die," Thomas said. "I've FaceTimed with families so they could say goodbye to their loved ones. We just sit there and hold their hands. They want you to limit to 15 minutes in a room, but how do you walk away from someone that's saying they want to die?"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Thomas said the experience has been emotionally draining, crediting her colleagues and family for providing support and distractions to get through each day."Pandemic or no pandemic, I would come to work everyday," Thomas said.Makayla Welchert, NebraskaMakayla Welchert became a registered nurse just over 18 months ago. Though she had worked as a CNA previously, Welchert never could have imagined she would be fighting a pandemic so early in her nursing career."It's been traumatizing. It has been devastating to see these patients and their families. You know, most of us go home at night and cry," she said.Welchert has seen a lot working in a COVID-19 unit at Methodist Hospital in Omaha, but there's one moment, back in March, she will never forget."It has taken a big toll on my mental health, ever since that moment," she said, "I replay that moment all the time in my head."That moment: Caring for a COVID-19 patient, who later passed away."When she looked at me with fearful eyes, I was just like, 'what am I, what am I supposed to do, how do I help her?'" Welchert said, "All I could do was just hold her hand. All I could tell her, you know, 'we're doing everything. I'm right here. I'm not leaving your bedside.' Because her family couldn't be there...She just squeezed my hand. She wouldn't let go, and we had to transfer her off to ICU." Amid caring for others, Welchert is also caring for her own unborn child."I'm now 30 weeks pregnant," she said.Welchert praises her colleagues for trying to place her with recovered patients or those readmitted for lingering health issues, during the pregnancy. However, she said as hospitalizations go up, it is all hands on deck."I think we're all just feeling the effects, just mentally and physically, and we are each other's biggest support system," she said.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After her third 12-hour shift in the ICU, Nebraska Medicine nurse Lacie Gooch recorded a video of herself, the N95 mask lines still fresh on her face, explaining the intensity of the situation. "I have seen so many emergent intubations. I've seen more people sick than I've ever seen in my life," she said. "We're understaffed, we have so much on our plates as nurses. There's not enough of us to help."Gooch said she captured the moment post-shift to "try and get the message out.""Things are bad at the hospital. Patients are sick, we're running out of beds," she said.Her "home unit" is typically in the cardiovascular ICU, but she's been helping out staff in the COVID-19 ICU, as well."Some of the things that we have to see, it can take a toll on a person," Gooch said. "It's hard not to carry it home."Gooch said phone calls to patients' families are among of the hardest parts of the job, along with trying to protect herself while rushing to help someone in need of care."I've had times when I'm trying as fast as I can to put some of my protection garments on, and I just feel like I can't get in there fast enough because they're tanking, and that's just a horrible feeling," she said.The nurse is begging for the public's help, urging them to follow safety measures like wearing masks, social distancing, avoiding large crowds and going out to high-risk locations.She said this affects everyone, not just those dealing directly with the virus."If you and a loved one were to need emergent care that wasn't COVID, we're at a point where we could get to where we couldn't give that care to you. That's scary to me," she said.Bridget Otto, IowaA nurse in Iowa City has been caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients since March. She never thought one of her own family members would end up in her intensive care unit."We are all exhausted and it's easy to get rundown and defeated and feel like you are alone," Bridget Otto said.Even through the end of her pregnancy, she spent long days caring for coronavirus patients clinging to life."A lot of my patients' family members said when they have it that they feel like they are never the same and that COVID took something from them, and I never will forget that," Otto said.COVID-19 nearly took something from her too: Her father. He became sick at the end of September and spent weeks in her ICU."He was an active farmer and he was climbing up and down grain bins and out of equipment to I can't move my hands and legs. An it's just a result of being on a ventilator for four weeks sedated and paralyzed and not moving," Otto said.She watched as her co-workers cared for her father each day. A painful sight, but also a relief he was in good hands. "It was one of the reasons I was able to go home at night and actually sleep," Otto said. He's still on oxygen support, but Bridget's father continues to recover, and has vowed to walk before his grandson, Graham. Sadly, that's not the reality of all of her patients."I just want people to know that there is a real, true suffering out there and it is a direct result of this virus. And that it's not if you'll be affected someday, it's when," Otto said.Kristin Sollars, Missouri Kristin Sollars gets a phone call at 5:30 a.m. each morning she works. On the other end of the line is someone assigning her to the intensive care unit where she’s needed most in the Saint Luke’s Health System.Sollars floats shifts between nine different ICUs in the Kansas City region. She sees the same scene every shift she works during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It's like Groundhog Day, over and over,�� the 15-year veteran nurse said. “Every day you get there, and it's the same stories. It's the same diagnoses. It's room after room after room of people maxed out on oxygen, requiring being flipped to their stomach onto their back and back again.”Her experience is like thousands of nurses across the world, managing oxygen levels by the minute, calling families on FaceTime so they can say goodbye, and trying to navigate the emotions and energy of nursing patients�� fragile bodies through an unrelenting virus.“It is very difficult,�� North Kansas City Hospital Critical Care Nurse Katie Kohrs says about treating COVID-19 patients. “It's emotionally difficult on our energy levels. But we're getting through and we're doing what we can and just making sure that we give them the same care as we give anybody else.”Kohrs is also seven months pregnant. She’s thankful for a supportive team at North Kansas City Hospital.“I think the best part about it is the fact that our co-workers and everyone, truly, in the hospital has been very supportive and everything we've done and backed us as nurses and doctors and everything,�� she said. “I feel comfortable and safe here. But it's forever changing. And you never know what's going to happen tomorrow.”The extra energy and resources provided by nurses like Kohrs is crucial inside any intensive care unit, even moreso during the COVID-19 crisis.“These COVID patients are so sick, and they're staying with us for extended periods of time,�� said Amanda Sollars (no relation to Kristin), an ICU nurse with St. Joseph Medical Center. “Right now, we're having such an influx in patients that we're just we're really running out of nurses to take care of these patients.”Nurses like Amanda Sollars are in high demand across the country. Hospitals across are paying nurses a premium. Some even arrived in Kansas City recently to provide surge relief as hospitalizations and COVID cases climb.“It's kind of just a revolving door,�� she said. “Once one patient either discharges, or passes away, there's someone or if not two or three more people waiting for that ICU bed.”Asked about how she keeps herself from breaking down emotionally, Amanda Sollars said she often operates on autopilot.“We can't break right now,�� she said. “This is just a crisis we're in and we all need to stay strong. And, as health care workers, I'm sure there'll be a time once this is all done, that there's going to be negative effects that we'll all have to deal with. But we just have to stay positive and know that, you know, this is where, we're the last stop for some of these people. And we just have to be strong for them.”If people could see inside their units, “I think it would frighten a lot,�� Kohrs said. “But also be very knowledgeable for many to see surely how horrible this can be.”Lacey Ward, MississippiThe University of Mississippi Medical Center is at capacity while administrators worry about the staff as they face another potential wave of COVID-19 patients. “We cannot handle a surge of a whole lot more patients coming at us,�� said UMMC Vice Chancellor Dr. LouAnne Woodward. “If you were to ask what our No. 1 concern is here at the Medical Center, we would tell you that it is concerns about our workforce.”Dr. Alan Jones, assistant vice chancellor for clinical affairs, said the hospital has enough supplies, but he has other concerns.“The thing we’re worried most about is most of our human resources. Our physicians and nurses are extraordinarily tired,�� Jones said. UMMC nurse Lacey Ward said the COVID-19 surge over the summer made her question if she could continue on in her field because it was so defeating.“I don’t think I could ever give (being a nurse) up, but I’ve never questioned it before,�� Ward said. “This virus has just, it’s been a challenge. The summer was a lot worse, and so I’m afraid in the next month or so it’s going to get a lot worse again.”Ward said now as she sees people going out more to parties and gatherings she is preparing herself for another surge of patients.“Just a few people can spread it exponentially,�� Ward said. “Even if you test negative today, you could be positive tomorrow. It takes a while for you to become symptomatic and before that, you’re contagious.”The veteran nurse said she is terrified every day that she’ll come home after work and spread coronavirus to her family. She said she sprays everything down with disinfectant and does her laundry separately from her family’s clothes.“It makes it a challenge even coming in the door having to tell my 3-year-old, ‘No, stop. Mom’s got to go change and wash down. You can’t hug me right now,’�� Ward said.Ward begged people to wear a mask, wash their hands and stay home.“Limit going out. We all want to be out. It’s been a rough year, but try to find things to do at home,�� Ward said.Kathy Reardon, Massachussetts "All anyone has to do is picture themselves laying in an ICU bed on a ventilator," said Kathy Reardon, a registered nurse with more than three decades of experience. "They're probably going to die and they can't even see their family members to say goodbye. She's trying to convince people to do all they can to avoid winding up in a hospital with COVID-19.That tragic story is what doctors and nurses are dealing with daily as cases surge. For the health care workers on the front lines, it's a gut-wrenching fight and Reardon says it hurts again to see people ignoring safety guidelines."This is not a political issue, it's humanity, it's a human issue," she said. Reardon has been a nurse for 32 years. She's currently working at Morton Hospital in Taunton but worked in the emergency department at Norwood Hospital until a flash flood caused that facility to be shut down.All hospitals, she says, are facing the same reality."The patients that we're helping, there's hundreds more behind them," she said.She's a wife and a mother of two who says her family will be celebrating the holidays at home, within their own bubble and she entreats everyone to do the same."It's as simple as that. Sometimes you have to give things up, and this year we have to give that up so we can continue living," Reardon said.