‘WE WERE SCARED’
Medical professionals across Montgomery County have been fighting on the front lines against the novel coronavirus for the better part of a year.
“It’s crazy that it’s been that long,” said Mary Templeton, a North Wales nurse in the intensive care unit at Abington-Lansdale Hospital in Lansdale.
“We face COVID in this hospital every day on every floor,” said Melissa Hewitt, of Hatfield, a director of the Mom and Baby Unit and NICU at Einstein Medical Center Montgomery in East Norriton.
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors, nurses and other hospital personnel braced themselves as the virus spread across the globe.
“Initially I described it as we were standing on a beach in a bikini waiting for a tsunami to hit, and we knew it was coming, we just didn’t know when it was going to hit us, and how bad it was going to be,” said Dr. Amanda Deshisky, a Lower Pottsgrove emergency physician working at Einstein Medical Center Montgomery in East Norriton.
“I think that in the spring people were very scared. We were scared of the unknown,” Hewitt said in December, recalling last March and April. “People, along with the news media, we were worried about what was going to happen with the virus. Were we going to have enough PPE? Were the measures that we were taking as a community going to be effective?”
Deshisky recalled studying a pandemic that occurred more than 100 years ago as a way to prepare herself for what eventually came to the state’s third most populated county.
“Initially there was a fair amount of anxiety, just the anticipation of everybody waiting to come through the doors and then it hit. It was fairly rough in April,” Deshisky said in a December interview.
On the hospital’s second floor, Hewitt had some reservations about her own health.
“Personally, I have autoimmune issues,” Hewitt said. “I have ... Lupus so I did speak with my doctors about ... what I can do to keep myself safe so I can continue to keep patients safe.”
Hewitt, like so many others, pressed on, arming themselves with personal protective equipment: gowns, gloves, face shields, and masks.
“A year ago, we’d have to look at each other. We’d have to sign each other off to make sure we’re putting our protective gear on correctly, make sure we’re taking it off correctly,” Templeton
recalled.
Deshisky said she needed to constantly remind herself that “there’s no emergency during a pandemic,” a selftalk mantra to remind herself to take proper precautions.
“We have to take the time — we have to protect ourselves so that we can be there for future patients,” Deshisky said. “It’s really hard to see somebody in distress and [have to think] ‘Wait: I need to put on my gown, I need to have my mask, I need my eye protection, I need to have all that on,’ instead of just running to the patient, which is our initial response.”
Medical professionals struggled with the lack of supplies at their disposal.
“When it first started we were using our masks for multiple days,” Templeton said. “Now we’re able to use one a day, which is awesome because it feels a lot better when you’re not wearing the same mask for a few days in a row wondering ‘Does this have a good seal? Am I protected enough?’”
As the first wave of the pandemic receded, Deshisky recalled “things slowed down in summer.”
“I could go a few shifts without having a COVID patient,” she said. “They certainly as a whole weren’t as sick as what they were during the springtime.”
Hospital staffers recalled how county residents rallied around them, donating supplies, food and notes of support.
“We saw and still continue to see a huge band of support from the community,” Hewitt said.
As summer turned to fall, cases started rising again with hospitalization rates soon following.
“Now it was more of an issue that the volumes are so high in the emergency department that we don’t have beds,” Deshisky said, recalling the fall resurgence.
“I think seeing so much death from this virus and seeing family members not being able to come in and see their loved ones, that kind of hits you right in the heart,” Templeton said.
“This time, I feel like people in the hospital are tired,” Hewitt said. “It’s been a long time and we continue to see people get sick. I feel like it’s just a lot.” Templeton agreed. “I’ll be honest, I haven’t slept well in probably about a year I want to say. It seems like that,” she said.
Templeton admitted she’s often anxious about her patients and how they’re doing.
“I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and text a coworker because I’m just that concerned, and that worried, and it’s like we don’t want to take it home, and I guess there’s people that can just disassociate from that, but I am not one of those people,” she said.
“It’s not like just because you work in the hospital you’re immune to getting it,” Hewitt said. “I think it’s been emotionally and physically draining for the frontline staff dealing with this.”
“I mean some of us we’ve broken down,” Templeton said. “I’ll be honest. I’ve broken down even at work. It happens, but sometimes you’ve just got to let it out.”
Many area medical professionals also worry about the risk of exposure at the hospitals or in their own homes as they adhere to health and safety guidelines.
“I’m tired of not seeing my family, and I feel like I’m probably one of the people that take it a little to the extreme,” Hewitt said. “I really try not to go to the food store. I try not to go to the pharmacy. I only order in. I miss being with my friends and family. I miss going to the mall. I miss going to the movies with my husband.”
“I haven’t seen my family and they live basically right down the street,” Templeton said.
The hardships seemed to strengthen the bonds of those working long hours on the front lines.
“I’ve been here a little over two years now, and I feel like some of us have never been closer, have never worked as well, together as we have now because we feel like we have to,” Templeton said. “We have to come together to help each other, make sure everyone is mentally OK.”
In addition to her role of ICU nurse, Templeton has also acted as a cheerleader for some of the most vulnerable patients in her unit.
“I’ve made patients — even ones on ventilators — I make them signs. I put them outside their room,” she said.
Whether it’s someone coming off of a ventilator or getting discharged from the hospital, medical professionals make sure to enjoy the bright moments whenever possible.
“That is what makes us go through each day,” Templeton said.
As the anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic in Montgomery County approached, many essential workers have been fully vaccinated.
“I refrained from crying while getting the vaccine, but the certainty [of the shot] was a sigh of relief,” Deshisky said in December 2020 following her initial vaccination.
“I’m proud to be a member of health care. I’m proud to have gotten the vaccine,” Hewitt said following her first vaccination appointment.
“It was a great feeling and … as soon as I did it they gave us the little sticker, and I immediately sent it to my family, and my mom was the most relieved person ever,” Templeton said. “It made her so incredibly happy.”
As of March 5, 47,593 Montgomery County residents had been fully inoculated via the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Additionally, 91,866 residents in the 1A phase had received their first doses of the vaccine.
“People are super sick and dying from this, and they don’t see the everyday struggle that both the patients here and the staff here have to go through and help them,” Templeton said. “This is real, and the vaccine is one step in the right direction. It may be a long road, but getting it ... is a great thing.”