Doing hundreds of COVID tests with compassion
Drive-up appointments for testing in the community are scheduled every five minutes, and it doesn’t happen often, but maybe one of every 20 people arrive upset, Rick Rickman said.
They’re generally younger. Sometimes they cry. There’s no vaccine for COVID-19, which can be deadly, and that’s the reason for the worry about the test.
Mr. Rickman, an advanced practice nurse who does mobile COVID-19 testing, understands the worry. Worry is what he takes home every night, dodging his family until he changes clothes and showers for fear of spreading the coronavirus that causes the disease.
He has done a couple hundred COVID-19 tests since early March, and for the fleeting minutes he spends with each patient, Mr. Rickman — wearing a face mask and protective gear — wants them to know that he understands.
“You know where they’re coming from because we’re all coming from the same place,” said Mr. Rickman, 52, who does COVID-19 testing as part of his job at Allegheny Health Network’s Wexford Wellness + Health Pavilion. “Am I bringing it home to my family?”
The father of four and native of Tomball, Texas, spent 24 years in the army, including active-duty tours in the Mideast. His wife, Amy, teaches physical science at Slippery Rock University.
In his 40s, Mr. Rickman found himself wanting something more, a different way to help others outside the military. He chose nursing.
“It’s just as challenging, but in a different way,” he said. “In the military, it’s,
‘Am I doing the right thing for myself?’ But in nursing, it’s not only, ‘Am I doing the right thing for myself,’ but, ‘Am I doing the right thing for my patient?’ “That’s stressful.” Mr. Rickman has gotten used to the stress. When the opportunity arose to volunteer to do COVID-19 testing, he was quick to put up his hand.
He’s the lead advanced practice nurse at an AHN primary medical care office in Pine, but others there were just as willing, he said.
“When the whole thing happened, it was really a chance to step forward and make a difference,” Mr. Rickman said. “Everybody here wanted to get involved with it.”
Popping balky joints back into place and treating colds and allergies are the bread and butter of his workday. What’s different about COVID-19 is the mystery, he said. It’s often easy to spot the person with the flu or pneumonia. Not so COVID-19, when people who feel fine can be contagious.
“Every patient is treated as a carrier,” he said.
For the physicians’ practice, the move to mobile COVID-19 testing was a natural extension of services that began with primary medical care before urgent care and expanded hours were added.
Still, the whole COVID19 thing can bring out the best in people, like the sense of unity you could feel in the months following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
“It’s kind of like after 9/ 11, when people were concerned with more than just themselves,” Mr. Rickman said. “I see a lot more basic kindness in the world as a result of this.”
“When the whole thing happened, it was really a chance to step forward and make a difference. Everybody here wanted to get involved with it.”
Rick Rickman