WEBVTT

00:00.260 --> 00:01.930
- Hi, I'm lieutenant Catharyn Nosek.

00:01.930 --> 00:03.780
I'm from Greensboro, North Carolina.

00:03.780 --> 00:06.230
I'm currently stationed at
Naval Medical Center Portsmouth,

00:06.230 --> 00:08.210
and I'm working aboard the USNS Comfort

00:08.210 --> 00:10.663
as one of the critical
care nurses in the ICU.

00:11.960 --> 00:14.960
My job responsibilities in
the ICU is to provide care

00:14.960 --> 00:18.340
to the ICU patients that come
aboard from New York City.

00:18.340 --> 00:20.660
That includes taking care
of their medications,

00:20.660 --> 00:22.490
their ventilators,

00:22.490 --> 00:24.753
any other care that's needed on the ship.

00:27.690 --> 00:29.840
Currently all the patients
that we are taking care of

00:29.840 --> 00:33.860
in the ICU that I'm working in,
are COVID positive patients.

00:33.860 --> 00:37.113
Most of them are on ventilators
and they're very sick.

00:39.970 --> 00:43.130
This mission calls for a lot of team work

00:43.130 --> 00:45.480
and a lot of resiliency
between each other.

00:45.480 --> 00:48.030
I currently hold the role
as a transport nurse,

00:48.030 --> 00:51.000
so while I still have patients on the ICU,

00:51.000 --> 00:54.230
I do leave the unit to go
bring the patients on the ship.

00:54.230 --> 00:56.900
So, this requires my coworkers to cover

00:56.900 --> 00:59.390
the watch of my patients
while I step off the floor

00:59.390 --> 01:01.563
to bring on new patients to the unit.

01:03.690 --> 01:06.740
The logistics of getting a
patient on board the USNS Comfort

01:06.740 --> 01:10.370
is very different than just
walking into a regular hospital

01:10.370 --> 01:12.990
in through the ER, on ground level.

01:12.990 --> 01:15.640
So, the process includes,
again, a lot of team work,

01:15.640 --> 01:18.010
a lot of communication
because we take the patient

01:18.010 --> 01:20.570
from the ambulance onto our gurney,

01:20.570 --> 01:22.340
and then we physically push the patient

01:22.340 --> 01:24.050
up the ramp to the ship.

01:24.050 --> 01:27.200
The ramp is about a quarter of a mile

01:27.200 --> 01:30.000
and it's all uphill and
it's back and forth.

01:30.000 --> 01:31.190
So, we're taking the patient

01:31.190 --> 01:33.260
up the ramp, turning sharp corners,

01:33.260 --> 01:35.640
and going back and forth
in a zig-zag motion

01:35.640 --> 01:37.160
for about a quarter of a mile.

01:37.160 --> 01:40.200
And that's while we're
pushing an adult patient

01:40.200 --> 01:42.630
on a ventilator with medical equipment.

01:42.630 --> 01:45.070
So, it requires a lot of physical labor

01:45.070 --> 01:46.820
and a lot of communication to make sure

01:46.820 --> 01:50.520
that we do it quickly but also safely.

01:50.520 --> 01:52.380
So, generally the patients we see at

01:52.380 --> 01:54.320
Naval Medical Center Portsmouth

01:54.320 --> 01:57.040
are not quite as sick
as these COVID patients

01:57.040 --> 01:58.640
that we see for obvious reasons.

01:58.640 --> 02:01.950
Our patient population in the military,

02:01.950 --> 02:04.860
luckily is generally
healthy for the most part.

02:04.860 --> 02:07.790
So, we're experiencing a lot
of challenges taking care of

02:07.790 --> 02:10.780
the local population
here in New York City.

02:10.780 --> 02:13.270
Just seeing what these local hospitals

02:13.270 --> 02:14.480
deal with on a daily basis,

02:14.480 --> 02:16.450
we're getting that on the ship as well.

02:16.450 --> 02:19.040
So, we're definitely
ramping up our team work,

02:19.040 --> 02:22.430
our communication to provide
the best care that we can.

02:22.430 --> 02:26.080
When I get off work I try
to decompress a little bit

02:26.080 --> 02:28.240
and reflect on what we
saw during the shift

02:28.240 --> 02:30.230
and I'm letting my family
and friends know that

02:30.230 --> 02:32.780
this is unlike anything
we've ever seen before.

02:32.780 --> 02:36.650
Again, in military medicine,
our population is so different

02:36.650 --> 02:39.700
than what the outside civilian world sees.

02:39.700 --> 02:41.640
So, these are sicker patients

02:41.640 --> 02:43.740
they're requiring a lot more care,

02:43.740 --> 02:46.170
and I'm letting them know
that we really are seeing

02:46.170 --> 02:47.960
what the New York hospitals are seeing,

02:47.960 --> 02:50.730
and we are working just as hard.

02:50.730 --> 02:53.540
We're on our feet taking
care of these sick patients.

02:53.540 --> 02:55.720
We've got patients lined up on ventilators

02:55.720 --> 02:58.730
that are very sick and need
a lot of high-quality care.

02:58.730 --> 03:00.360
And luckily this is what we train for

03:00.360 --> 03:02.660
and we're absolutely ready for it.

03:02.660 --> 03:05.020
So, a similar experience
I've had in the military

03:05.020 --> 03:07.770
that has prepared me for this mission is

03:07.770 --> 03:10.090
a TAD experience I did last year

03:10.090 --> 03:13.030
to a level one trauma center

03:13.030 --> 03:15.200
at University of Florida Shands.

03:15.200 --> 03:17.890
It's for the hospital corpsman
trauma training initiative

03:17.890 --> 03:21.410
where I was a preceptor or an instructor

03:21.410 --> 03:24.540
for 16 corpsmen going
through a trauma program.

03:24.540 --> 03:27.360
So, that allowed us to get
civilian experience as well

03:27.360 --> 03:28.820
and see real trauma cases.

03:28.820 --> 03:32.000
We were seeing gunshot
wounds, respiratory distress,

03:32.000 --> 03:35.470
strokes, a little but a little
bit more to a higher acuity

03:35.470 --> 03:37.300
than we would see at Portsmouth

03:37.300 --> 03:40.010
or another large MTF in the Navy.

03:40.010 --> 03:42.190
So, that experience definitely prepared me

03:42.190 --> 03:45.000
to deal with the civilian side of medicine

03:45.000 --> 03:47.683
and the sicker patients
that we're seeing now.

03:49.440 --> 03:54.040
Staying motivated and staying
positive is definitely

03:54.040 --> 03:55.940
a core part of what we're doing right now

03:55.940 --> 03:58.890
because you have to keep a
positive attitude to keep going.

03:58.890 --> 04:01.870
So, we're doing whatever we
can to motivate each other.

04:01.870 --> 04:05.110
Remind each other of the mission at hand:

04:05.110 --> 04:06.940
that we're here for a greater good

04:06.940 --> 04:08.640
and that we are prepared for this.

04:08.640 --> 04:10.920
We're listening to music,
we're ordering food

04:10.920 --> 04:12.740
to the hotel when we can

04:12.740 --> 04:15.880
to try to just build that
camaraderie and build that morale.

04:15.880 --> 04:19.640
It's very easy to get
down and be exhausted.

04:19.640 --> 04:22.330
We've worked weeks and
weeks without a day off,

04:22.330 --> 04:24.620
and we're all very tired, but we know that

04:24.620 --> 04:26.230
we're accomplishing good here.

04:26.230 --> 04:28.810
And the overall mission is to
help the people of New York,

04:28.810 --> 04:31.900
and we're absolutely happy
to be here to do that.

04:31.900 --> 04:34.473
And we're happy to be
a part of this mission.