The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Pandemic created new friendships for many in the medical field
WEST CHESTER >> When the pandemic hit Chester County a year ago, it put a tremendous strain on the medical community. Hospitals soon surged to capacity. Ventilators were scarce. Nurses and doctors could often be found working 12- to 15-hour shifts, sometimes sleeping at the hospital.
And because they weren’t trained in how to handle a pandemic, many learned as they went along. Many found a compassionate side they never knew.
“I felt like I learned so much,” said Colleen Lobato, a registered nurse on the surgical floor at Chester County Hospital in West Chester. “We ran with it and stayed down there permanently. The hospital was so supportive, giving us everything we needed to keep us safe.”
The past 12 months have been trying ones, ones filled with disappointments and tragedies and countless frustrations. They’ve also been filled with moments of hope, with strokes of innovation and acts of compassion.
The Daily Local News is marking the one-year anniversary of COVID-19 in Chester County with a series of stories about the impact it has had here.
And what an impact it has had.
More than 4,200 people in the county have tested positive for the disease. More than 730 have lost their lives to it.
In the coming days, the newspaper will look at the ways the county faced, and in many cases, fought back and overcame the rampant disease that has so profoundly changed our community, our state, our nation, and our world.
Kendra Senn, a registered nurse at the hospital in West Chester, for example, worked long shifts but treated every patient like they were family.
“At first it was scary because we didn’t know much about the virus,” she said. “There were no studies on this. Everybody did the best they could with what we had. Our administration was great with getting us protective equipment, but it was a really huge learning curve.”
The work by the medical staff took its toll on their families. Senn said she often came home from work exhausted, but was aided by a supportive husband who had the laundry done, house cleaned and dinner cooked.
Soon after, the community realized just how rough the doctors, nurses and interns had it that good things started to happen. Because the facility on East Marshall Street is part of the Penn Medicine group, it was able share resources with other hospitals across the Delaware Valley. That meant the hospital was able to treat up to 100 coronavirus patients with ventilators.
“The community was so wonderful,” Senn said. “They would come and hold up signs outside of the hospital. They donated food and made masks and caps for our hair. One kid even brought a saxophone and played for us outside. It just made us feel wonderful.”
Loboto said memories of her helping patients will last a lifetime.
“Families were so distraught that they couldn’t see loved ones,” she said. “We had to hold the phone to their ears. But we just remember – what if this was my mom or my grandmom? This was so much different from anything we have ever dealt with.”
Throughout it all, many nurses at Chester County hospitals have ended up bonding and making new friendships.
“People were so supportive and wonderful, and wonderful friendships have formed,” Senn said. “It brought a new component to many people’s nursing careers.”