Haunting scenes from front lines

As a frontline emergency room nurse, I recall two disturbing incidents from the first wave of COVID-19 that have haunted me.

One evening in May, we lost another patient to COVID and had to take the body to the morgue. An orderly (PAB) and I wrapped up this poor man, put him on a steel gurney and wheeled him downstairs.

The security guard opened the door to the morgue. I saw eight bodies. They had all died of COVID. The morgue was full.

I then wheeled this man outside, through a back exit of the hospital, up a ramp and into a refrigerated truck. There were shelves inside, and it was obvious they had been purposely built for corpses.

One night in March, the daughter of a woman came to the emergency room begging to see her mother one last time. She was dying of COVID.

We obliged, and I put a gown, mask and gloves on this woman before taking her into the ER.

By the time we made it to the room, it was too late: her mother was dead.

I wanted so much for her daughter to sit down and take her time to say her goodbyes as she wept. But I couldn't; it was too risky. She spent less than two minutes in the room, and I had to escort her out as she continued to cry.

Now, I am begging Premier François Legault to please be as proactive as his government was during the first wave of this pandemic — and shut down the province again in order to save lives.

Nathan Friedland, Roxboro