The Extremely Relatable Things These Health Care Workers Do to Make It Through the Impossible
For a lot of us, our pandemic days are spent at home, doing our part to flatten the curve. That means having the privilege of sweatpants, Zoom meetings, banana bread, and not wearing makeup for two months. Or trying to figure out how to teach our kids the ABCs (wut? how?). We spend hours scrolling through TikTok in bed and we fall asleep, ready to wake up the next day and do it all again. Inside. It’s repetitive, but it’s safe.
For health care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus, their days are anything but. After hunting for personal protective equipment (PPE) and trying to minimize their exposure, these women are fighting to save lives and treat patients infected with COVID-19, all while hospitals experience unprecedented overcrowding. But just like how you roll out of bed and still get to work on time, medical professionals do the same. Cosmopolitan spoke with three women who work at New York Presbyterian Hospital to hear what their days are actually like. From undressing in the hallways to sewing masks in their free times, here’s how they live now.
Aygul (Aya) Islamova, Clinical Nurse
4:45 a.m.: I wake up when it’s still dark outside and dive right into my morning routine: coffee, breakfast, a cold shower. I have no idea when I’m going to have time to eat again until I get home, but I try to stick with something light like veggies and toast, maybe oatmeal. I love to set a tone for the day by enjoying the quietness in preparation.
6 a.m.: It takes me about 30 minutes to get to work on the subway, but since the MTA has cut down service, it’s been taking longer because of all the delays. My family lives in Russia and because of the seven-hour time difference, I call them on the way to work. I tell them I’m fine, I’m okay. It’s a lot of constant reassurance.
6:45 a.m.: I get to work a little before our unit’s shift starts so I can prep for the day. When I walk in, I use some of the hand sanitizer that’s all over the hospital and change into my uniform and PPE. We’re given one N95 mask per day. I put on a standard medical mask on top of the N95, then my goggles, a face shield, and a hair cover.
7 a.m.: My shift starts and I hear reports on patients from the night unit. On average, I have four or five COVID-19 patients a day. I make my rounds and check in on them.
12 p.m.: I make sure my patients have lunch and their medication. I like to bring them at the same time just to see if the patient needs assistance eating and so a technician doesn’t have to go in the room. Since we converted to a full-time COVID-19 unit, we try to cluster our care as much as we can.
2 p.m.: This is a good time for me to take a quick lunch. Sometimes, if I can, I’ll take off my PPE and go to this little park and get some fresh air and see the sun. When I go to work, it’s dark, and when I finish work, it’s dark. So it’s really a beautiful opportunity to sit outside for a moment if I have time. I try to do this once a week, but it’s rare.
4 p.m.: Between now and 6 p.m., this is technically our last round where we process our care. I’ll bring dinner and evening meds. I’ll update my patients and tell them I’m leaving for the day, so it won’t be a surprise for them when I disappear.
7 p.m.: I start my report for the next unit of nurses coming in. If I have five patients and there are different nurses who will be taking care of those patients, I’ll need to write reports for every new night nurse. The reports describe their condition, why the patient is here, what needs to be done next.
8:15 p.m.: I just moved in with my boyfriend, who’s working remotely from our apartment, so I have to disinfect everything when I get home. I take off all my commuting clothing as soon as I come into the hallway area and put them in a plastic bag, tie it up, and put it in our front closet. I run to the bathroom right away and try not to touch anything before I wash my hands. Then I’ll jump in the shower. I’ve started washing my hair every day, which is obviously not ideal for the health of my hair but I have to do it. I’ve also started moisturizing constantly to take care of my skin after hiding under all the PPE every day. After the shower, I bring all our cleaning supplies to the bathroom and sanitize the entire bathroom, the front doorknobs, and my shoes with Clorox. It all takes about half an hour.
8:45 p.m.: My boyfriend and I sit down for dinner, finally. I also love to drink a comforting cup of tea with milk and honey. We talk about our days and I’ll share as much as I can, but of course he worries about me.
9:30 p.m.: After dinner, I dive right into my side hustle: The Off Label and Masks for Masks. The clothing brand, which I started before COVID-19, came out of my love of fashion and designing. First, I designed a dress for myself and then people started reaching out and requesting similar items. Now, I have a brand. But after COVID-19 started and I saw how few masks there were in the country, I started using my extra fabric to make masks for the general public. All the profits from Masks for Masks go to making more masks and toward necessary PPE for health care workers. We’re also helping make sure our patients have phone chargers, because so many of them come to the hospital without them. This way, they can speak to their families.
10:30 p.m.: I try to get to bed absolutely no later than 11. My boyfriend likes to play guitar before we go to sleep, which is so nice. After I put on a moisturizing sleeping mask, I have no trouble falling asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow because I’m so exhausted. The beginning of the pandemic was not so easy. When I found out we were officially a COVID-19 unit, I was really worried and I couldn’t stop crying. But now, things have settled in and I’m used to the chaos.
Dr. Cara Agerstrand, Pulmonologist and Director of the Medical ECMO Program
6:30 a.m.: It’s about a six-mile ride from my apartment to the hospital—it’s actually quite lovely because I bike up the Hudson River. It’s peaceful, it’s quiet, and I can watch the water. I try to use this time to think about the upcoming day and listen to motivating music. I put on my marathon training playlist—Beyoncé, Jay-Z, or a little bit of Rihanna. Something to get me pumped for the day.
8 a.m.: I wear my normal clothes to the hospital, so when I arrive, I lock up my bike, put on scrubs, and change into my hospital shoes.
The first thing I do is disinfect my entire workstation. Then I start reviewing the patients I’m responsible for, looking through their medical records, and hearing about new patients who have come in overnight. I don’t spend any time catching up with my coworkers’ lives—there really are no other conversations these days. Everything is about COVID-19.
9 a.m.: I am a pulmonary and critical care physician, and I’m the director of the medical ECMO program, which is a specialized form of life support that acts as a temporary artificial lung. Before COVID-19, I would be responsible for 12 patients in an ICU. I now oversee multiple ICUs staffed by other attending physicians, and I’ll review up to 40 patients throughout the day. Whenever we hear about a sick patient who may need our support, we convene by video conference to discuss the case.
There’s a whole process of putting on the appropriate PPE to go in to see the patients. First, we disinfect our hands, put on gloves, put on a gown, put on several different masks, and a face shield. Once you’re used to it, I’d say it takes about five minutes to put on. Taking it off is definitely the more stressful activity.
Seeing patients is actually one of the most normal things I do. We take care of critically ill people all the time, and taking care of COVID-19 patients is the same thing. This is my specialty, and that’s what we’re used to, but the sheer number of patients has been the biggest challenge for us.
1 p.m.: I try to grab a bite to eat around 1 or 1:30. But sometimes, the day flies by and it’s 4 p.m. before I realize I haven’t eaten since the morning or at all. I’ve been trying to be extra thoughtful about eating healthy these days. I try to bring what I need to eat with me from home—granola bars, a yogurt, some fruit. People say, “Eat when you can, drink when you can, sleep when you can.” I usually won’t go outside until I’m ready to leave in the evening. I had to watch the Blue Angels flyover tribute video online.
7 p.m.: I live alone, so that has been a little simpler as far as worrying about who I expose. Before going home, I’ll change out of my scrubs and my hospital shoes, and I’ll disinfect my phone and computer before I put them in my bag. I’m very aware of how I open a door or press an elevator button. I get on my bike and ride home, which is always quite lovely. It’s actually my favorite time of the day. The Hudson River is on my right and Manhattan is in front of me. It is a peaceful time to reflect on the day and think about everything that’s happened. I think about what we’ve done and what we have yet to do. I actually feel pretty energetic and motivated on the way home.
If I’m home by 7 p.m., I’ll take a break for the New York City clap, which is a really touching moment. I was so surprised by how moving it was. Still, every day. I’m always a little surprised how much it affects me.
I’m not exaggerating when I say I get hundreds of texts a day while I’m working. I’ll try to answer them when I can. There was a time when we were at the peak of our cases where my friends and family said I went silent for a while. I hardly noticed.
My family certainly is the most worried about my well-being. I always tell them I feel fine and we’re lucky to have all that we need. I always feel safe in the hospital.
8 p.m.: There really is no such thing as a “shift.” The day begins when I wake up and it doesn’t really end until I go to bed. There’s a constant sense of, Did I do enough today? That doesn’t go away. Especially these past few weeks. And I don’t necessarily want to get away from it. This is what we’re here to do. So when I get home, I’m hearing about sick consults or patients who may have come in later in the day or speaking to my colleagues and other physicians about our planning and patient management. It hasn’t stopped.
8:30 p.m.: In the beginning, I was eating a lot of pasta for dinner, but I’ve been trying to make salad or cook fish or roast vegetables. While I’m cooking, I might have the news on in the background. Or I may try to talk to a friend on FaceTime just to catch up. Having these Zoom happy hours with friends when possible makes you feel connected to people.
10 p.m.: Many of us have been involved in developing educational materials for the hospital, and we’ve largely done them at home or on the weekends. We present them to a larger group of physicians during the week on a video conference.
12 a.m.: I normally go to bed around midnight. I haven’t been having any weird vivid dreams, but I’ve heard that is going around. By the time I go to bed, I’m so exhausted that I just sleep.
2 a.m.: It’s not uncommon that I’ll be woken up overnight a few times for various calls or consults. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to sleep the whole night through.
Dr. Marie-Laure Romney, Emergency Medicine Physician and Vice Chair of Quality for Emergency Medicine
6 a.m.: Depending on what time my first meeting of the day is, I’m usually up by 6. I live with my husband and our three kids in Brooklyn.
7 a.m.: My husband and I will walk our dog before I leave for work. Then I’ll come back, put on my scrubs, get in the car, and go to the hospital. I don’t do my hair or put on any makeup. I went natural with my hair around Thanksgiving and this has probably been the easiest part. I find my natural hair actually easier to maintain.
8:35 a.m.: Everyone’s required to wear a mask on hospital property, so I have surgical masks in my car that I put on before entering. Before going into the clinical area, I usually will add an N95 mask as well as goggles.
12 p.m.: I’m vice chair of quality and patient safety in our department, so I do have clinical responsibilities, but a large chunk of my time is administrative. For most of the time that we’ve been dealing with COVID-19 in our department, I’ve been making sure our providers have everything that they need on the front lines.
1 p.m.: We can eat and drink during the day, but you have to completely remove your PPE before. One thing that’s been really nice is our department turned what used to be a conference room into a lounge. We installed hooks outside of the lounge so people can hang their masks or their shields. We installed hand sanitizer right at the door, and people can come in and have something to drink in a space that’s clean. Environmental Services comes multiple times a day to clean the area, wipe things down, and give everyone a safe space to eat and drink.
But my practice is not to eat and drink in the emergency department at all, including just sips of water. Some people do, but you risk self-contamination if you lift your mask even to take a sip of water.
We don’t have scheduled breaks as physicians, which was always the case pre-COVID-19 and is just the practice of emergency medicine. I think as a result of the PPE, people are taking less breaks than they probably usually do during a shift. I think I took two breaks on my last 12-hour period. This is obviously a crisis on a level we’ve never dealt with before, but we are crisis experts of sorts. So even in this current situation, we do find moments of laughter and normalcy.
2 p.m.: I personally treat around 200 patients. It’s similar to my work pre-pandemic but it’s just that now, the proportion of COVID-19 patients is significantly higher. At our peak, all 200 of those patients were COVID-19 patients.
7:30 p.m.: Our home has a separate apartment that we usually use for visiting family. Now I use it as my decompression space. It has a separate bathroom and a separate bedroom that I spend most nights in. I’ll come home and immediately take everything off in the mudroom area. Then I take a shower and change before going up to any part of my house or my family.
At home, I actually try not to talk to the kids about it. I have a sixth grader who tends to be a worrier so I try not to bring the rest of it home.
10 p.m.: There’ve been a lot of calls related to management of the crisis across the city and I usually finish them up at night. I don’t think I’m really able to leave work behind once I’m home. I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility for my team and the patients we’re caring for. I don’t really ever feel completely unplugged. There are moments like a bike ride with my family that are a reprieve, but I never think, Oh, it’s the end of my day and I don’t have to think about this until tomorrow morning. That’s not a reality for me.
12 a.m.: If I’m not working, if I’m not on the ground, I’m usually in bed by midnight. But there have definitely been days where I’ll still be in the hospital at 2 in the morning. When there are bad days, when there are a lot of patients we’ve lost in the ER, there’s definitely some restlessness to my sleep. Most days, though, I’m just exhausted.
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