Today I saw tired. A tired in nurses like I haven’t seen or felt ever before. Maybe it was my lack of sleep in worrying about how to help find staff the night before, but it felt more real today.
What nurses want you to know is that we are here to help and support, but it isn’t enough. We aren’t enough, technology isn’t enough, and prayers aren’t enough. We aren’t enough: there aren’t enough nurses. The number of sick are too many. We have always faced shortages, but not like this. We can’t take it. Our psychological, mental, and physical health can’t keep up.
We are trying, but sometimes we can’t keep up at this pace. We have held the hands of the dying and sacrificed our families to our breaking point. Our bodies are giving out with the demands of the work to be done. It’s hard. We walk 8 miles a day and manual reposition patients to their stomach and back without breaks. Our backs, knees, and hearts are in pain. Technology helps us in so many ways, but it still hadn’t helped us learn to cheat death. Technology can’t always help when all your organs fail and your body simply cannot get oxygen into its cells despite us maximizing all settings on the ventilator. We will sit beside you and pray with you every day. We will call the chaplain, your family, and any other spiritual guide. We are often the only ones with you because we know you would want to keep your family safe. Yet our prayers and pleading can’t prevent you from moving beyond our world. It tests our spiritual faith as well.
Despite all of this, we are here. We will stand by you. We Sacrifice our family time to make sure you are cared for; it’s what we would want for our families. But we are tired. We have the exhaustion that seeps into your bones. It sucks the life and spirit from your body. It comes from the continuous losing fight; a war we are not winning. We get in our cars and cry on the way home because our calling is to care for others and we feel like failures.
The helpers need the help. We need people to understand that the government isn’t asking for your help. Your sisters, mothers, cousins, aunts, nephews, and daughters are asking for help. Nurses need help. We are asking you to take it seriously and consider taking the vaccine. We aren’t asking out of selfishness or a shroud of superiority; we are asking because we care. We care about our mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and all our friends at risk. We see the devastation of lose, grief, and guilt everyday now, and we don’t want anyone else to experience it. We se family members regret decisions to not get the vaccine, wear a mask, or go to a large gathering. We get it. We want things yo ho back to normal as much as you, but it won’t. Things will never be the same. The same comforts we enjoy for life and leisure will always have this risk of what we are experiencing now: worldwide pandemic.
We must grow and adapt like all other life forms. We must evolve to stay alive. Let us help you stay alive. We are tired, but we are not done. Help us in joining the fight. Protect yourself, your loved ones, and us. Consider a mask, washing your hands, and being vaccinated. We do these things everyday to keep you safe. Millions of nurses have taken the risks to help lead the way. We sacrificed for you, please sacrifice for us. Help us help you. We are here to be beside you during the dark times, but we also want to be beside you during the happy moments. We want to escort you out of the hospital, help you change the diaper of your first grand baby, and play bingo with your mother. The cancer society advertises being the sponsor of birthdays, but we are the sponsor of life and it’s precious moments. We want to enjoy it with you. Please consider the vaccine. The risk is worth the reward. I can’t think of anything better than grand-baby kisses, late night calls from grown children seeking advice, or afternoon family dinners in the backyard. It’s not about us, but about who we love.