WEBVTT

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- My name is Hospital Corpsman
3rd Class, Janet Rosas.

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I am a Medical Laboratory Technician

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on board the USNS Comfort.

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So, I was born in Lynwood, California.

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I've lived all over Los Angeles County.

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My family is currently residing
in Lakewood/Long Beach.

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(laughs)

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Most of my family is located
in California right now.

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So, I was actually going
to high school in Lemoore,

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Lemoore California Naval station.

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So, everybody around me was prior Navy,

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or active Navy,

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somehow tied to the Navy.

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And, they basically motivated me to join.

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And, I'm very glad they did so.

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(laughs)

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So, I am actually attached to

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Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth.

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But the USNS Comfort is my platform.

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So, most of the time,

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when the Comfort goes out,

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so do I.

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So, my day usually begins,

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we wake up, we go grab something to eat.

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We're working 12 hour shifts right now.

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So, we go in, relieve our counterparts,

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take on any patients that

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they might've been working

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on throughout the night.

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Go ahead and do our
quality control of the day.

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And the patients start rolling in

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and we get samples,

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start testing them and
pushing blood products out.

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My job is, I work in the blood bank.

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Which means we receive samples

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for patients awaiting
some type of transfusion,

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whether it's for blood products.

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We do issue, you know, doc plasma, cryo,

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all the extra products as well.

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So, we just receive samples,

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we test them,

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find compatible units,

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and push them on out.

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Patients get transfused,

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we get everything back,

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review everything.

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Make sure, you know,

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patients aren't having reactions.

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And that's our patient care.

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I believe everybody was a
little concerned at first,

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at this point.

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I believe, I truly believe everybody

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has a routine established where, you know,

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it's just second nature to wash your hands

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after you've received any sample.

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Sanitize at every, you know, station.

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It's just become, you know,

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part of our daily routine.

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Yeah, we still think about it.

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But, at the same time I believe
we're taking precautions

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to really lower the risk
of us getting infected.

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Our nurses have definitely, you know,

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established some very strict rules.

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(laughs)

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I believe, you know,

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I have made such a big difference.

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It's the little things
in my book that are,

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you know, keeping us safe at this point.

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And, they've done a
great job enforcing them.

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Like I said, it's second nature now

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for everyone to sanitize, wash,

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social distancing, big one.

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We switch our masks daily.

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We are covered up completely

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when we're working with patient samples.

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It's just, you know,

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these are things we do at the hospital.

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They're just a little,

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a few extra steps that we're taking here,

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on board the Comfort.

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So, I do talk to my family
almost on a daily basis.

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They're doing okay right now.

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Everybody is, mostly staying at home,

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just keeping up to date.

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It's a little hard to be away from family,

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especially during these times.

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But, they're very proud of me.

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They do believe that we're
making a difference here,

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and I think we really are.

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So, that's what's important to me.

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That they're safe and that
we're doing a good job here.