Local healthcare workers feeling the strain nine months into pandemic

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    SALINAS, CA (KSBW) — Healthcare workers are nine months into the pandemic and they have been feeling the strain of caring for COVID-19 patients for months now.

Workers in the COVID Units at Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System say their jobs have never been harder.

“In our profession we witness a lot of death, but this is very different than what we are typically used to witnessing, how they die is very traumatic,” said respiratory therapist Katlen Braga.

Braga has been assigned to work in a COVID Unit since the start of the pandemic, alongside a handful of other respiratory therapists, critical care nurses and doctors. It is her job to help patients breath from the moment they are admitted to the moment they are discharged. Braga manages oxygen masks, preps patients for incubation, oversees ventilators and has the difficult job of removing breathing tubes when patients are not going to survive.

The average COVID-19 patient is in the hospital for more than a month at SVMH and during that time family members are not allowed to visit. Braga said filling the void of a loved one at a patient’s bedside for weeks makes it that much harder when a the person dies.

“We are the ones who are with them when they are struggling to breath and fighting for their life, and if they do die, we are the ones at their bedside holding their hands,” said Braga.

Braga said she has been through a number of bad flu seasons during her seven years as a respiratory therapist but this is far different and far worst. She recently returned to work after taking a break from the COVID Unit, something she said was necessary for her mental health.

“I see a therapist every two weeks, I have vocalized needing a break from the COVID Unit to kind of just step back and just take care of myself, but it is really hard because there are only so many of us,” said Braga.

Respiratory therapists at SVMH have play a key role in treating COVID-19 patients and this year the hospital received the California Society’s Inaugural Respiratory Care Department Excellence Award. SVMH has 41 respiratory therapists on staff but not all work on a COVID Unit.

SVMH opened its third COVID Unit this week after admitting the highest number of COVID-19 patients since the onset of the pandemic over the weekend. Staff have expressed concerns over resources heading into the holidays. The concern is not about having enough equipment but about having enough people to care for a spike in patients needing critical care.

Braga said the best gift to give a healthcare worker this holiday season is to abstain from gathering with friends and family and to follow health department guidance.

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