Click here to subscribe today or Login.
The heroes among us today don’t wear capes, but scrubs and face masks. Kayla Galdieri is among those who belong on the hero pedestal.
Galdieri is a nurse at Geisinger Wyoming Valley in the Progressive Care Unit, just one notch below the ICU. Typically, she helps patients. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Galdieri’s job has become much more than it was.
“We have pretty sick patients usually, and I am assigned three patients at a time,” Galdieri said. “We’ll go in and take care of our patients normally, some of them will be in isolation depending on how sick they are.”
During the pandemic though, things have changed drastically for all nurses, including Galdieri.
“Now, we still have three patients but now a lot of them are in isolation because of COVID-19 and everything,” Galdieri said. “So, we have to have full blown isolation gear and have (n95 masks) on our face which is really hard to breathe, and we have to wear masks even when we aren’t in the COVID rooms.
“It is good that we are wearing them, but it is rough. I work 12 hours each day and its rough to wear them all day.”
This pandemic has also changed how each of these nurses does their job.
“It’s hard because no matter what we can’t be in those rooms as much as we want too,” Galdieri said. “It’s like everything we have learned as a nurse is totally different now.”
On top of the struggle and risks taken at work, every nurse has had to make an even greater sacrifice, which is limiting contact with their families.
“I live with my fiancé who still works as an essential worker, so we have been going forward together as normal at our house,” Galdieri said. “I am very close with my family though. I usually see my mom and dad and go to their house like three or four times a week before all of this. Now I haven’t been able to see them because I don’t want to get them sick.
“On top of all of this I am supposed to be getting married in August so hopefully it doesn’t get pushed back. We had so much planned into this and it is all so stressful.”
The pandemic and shutdown have affected many people and unfortunately it continues to affect the lives of many, including the heroes on the front line.
We thank Kayla Galdieri for her sacrifice to help others, even at the expense of seeing her own family for the time being.
