This is reality in the Wild West, folks!

My Day: Educating future nurses by standing in a tent all
Day, giving flu shots through car windows as others swab people for covid... 40 degrees, wind whipping by, no sun, only warmth is car exhaust. Thankful for plastic PPE and gloves and shields to give us protection from all the people who are so ill.. trying to explain how to provide culturally competent care through so many barriers both physical and mental to our future nurses. Many patients in these cars are so sick, they are in tears just waiting their turn.. some of the cars are so packed we have to ask them to step out to be swabbed or to receive their flu shot, which requires them to expose their arm to the bitter cold.

THIS is just the start of harsh weather and our numbers in WI are getting worse everyday. HOW much more of this can we healthcare workers withstand. We are the lucky ones, We test them, and send them on their way. At this point they are Alive. Thats where their journey and the next step of this process begins.

Every one of us is frozen to the bone, working in horrid conditions to serve our communities. If someone had told me even a year ago this would be the new reality I would have laughed.

It is utterly shameful, discraceful and disgusting that there are many who believe this is a hoax. I hold our President fully responsible for what we are living each day. Those of you who CHOOSE to make a joke of a mask, social distancing and make choices because you have the “right to live your life” are just as bad as our mentally ill President. Sleep well, cause one day it will be someone you love who is JUST THE 1% who didn’t survive.

*coped with permission from a text group representing Wisconsin