Stories From The Frontlines Only Nurses Will Understand with Kelita & Ivette
Nurse Alice interviewed two travel nurses who worked several travel contracts in the epicenters of COVID-19. Describing their unfiltered experiences and revealing the true heartbreak and triumph of the pandemic.
Nurse Ivette: Nurse Alice turns a spotlight on Ivette, who happens to have a twin sister, who’s also a travel nurse, the duo teamed up early in the pandemic to take on COVID assignments. The 9-year ICU veteran noted that that time was “like nothing I’ve ever seen before.” After completing her travel assignment in New York, she returned to her home in Houston, TX, only to jump right back into that state being hit by the virus.
Despite her own fears about what she would be facing–and the vocalized fear and even tears from their mother–Ivette told Nurse Alice that traveling to work in NY “was a call we felt we had to answer.” And having her twin by her side, she said, “sealed the deal.”
Kelita Raphael: Kelita works as an Med/Surg RN in New York and started in nursing at only the age of 16 working in an LPN program. Kelita notes that she’s also been a bit of a “clown” and a jokester in her unit and uses humor as a way to cope with some of the difficult aspects of nursing, so she was inspired to start creating her hilarious TikToks during the pandemic. “Instead of crying about what we’re doing, maybe we should laugh about it instead,” she notes. Her videos–which she was initially terrified to send out in the world–were an immediate hit. And she notes that the videos are a great way to talk about the struggles, challenges and triumphs of the nursing profession.
“That’s the best part of making those TikToks,” Kelita explained. “It talks about the whole aspect of nursing–the good, the bad, and the ugly.”
Read the full article here: https://nurse.org/articles/nurse-frontlines-stories/
