'We're fighting an uphill battle': Oklahoma nurse tearfully describes scenes at COVID-19 ICU
While so many nurses and medical staff are quitting, Regan Wickwire said she keeps going because it's her calling.
While so many nurses and medical staff are quitting, Regan Wickwire said she keeps going because it's her calling.
While so many nurses and medical staff are quitting, Regan Wickwire said she keeps going because it's her calling.
Regan Wickwire, an intensive care unit nurse at St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City, said she lets her patients tell their family members goodbye on her cellphone. Oftentimes, there's no time to grab it when you can't breathe on the way to the emergency room.
"It just feels like we're fighting an uphill battle, and people are pushing us down," Wickwire said. "And we see it when we go to the grocery store. People aren't wearing masks. Or, you know, your family members. I have certain family members that don't believe in the vaccine and don't believe in the mask. No matter where you go, when you were younger, you were always told to leave work at work and leave home at home. It's constantly around you.
"You leave work, and you go to the grocery store, there it is. COVID is everywhere, and we get no break from it."
Wickwire has worked as a critical care nurse for seven years. Since the beginning of the pandemic, she has worked in the COVID-19 ICU.
"Holding the hands of patients taking their final breaths, looking into their eyes, telling them that they're going to be OK right before intubating them," Wickwire said.
She also hears those patients' regret.
"Some of them have told us that they didn't believe this virus was real. They didn't believe the vaccine was real, and they wish they could go back," Wickwire said.
She wants you to know what she sees is real.
"I'm not getting paid to do this. I am as a frontline nurse begging people to please hear us," Wickwire said. "See what I'm telling you. Envision it. Close your eyes. Picture me holding a hand of a patient while you're on their FaceTime saying goodbye to them. Picture that. And don't let that be you and your loved one."
While so many nurses and medical staff are quitting, Wickwire said she keeps going because it's her calling.
"It's my passion. My faith will not let me give up. People out there need me," she said.