PA College Magazine - Winter 2021 - 12

PA COLLEGE / FEATURE

During the previous shift, the facility's
staff members had moved 72 patients
into designated COVID-19 red and
yellow zones, but there was no list
of who was in what bed. Charts and
spent PPE were everywhere.
The two nurses immediately split duties,
with Heisey taking the red zone and,
with the help of a specialist from the
Pennsylvania Emergency Management
Agency, identifying which patients were
in which bed. Eisenhour teamed up
with a seasoned LPN and two patient
care assistants to assess, document and
educate about infection prevention
control and cohorting abilities.
" They weren't wearing face shields, "
says Eisenhour, " so I explained best
practice and showed them how to
don and doff PPE. " During the shift,
another resident tested positive and
Eisenhour moved him to the red zone.
Eisenhour and Heisey checked the
respiratory status of every patient
throughout the shift and removed
medication of deceased residents from
the medicine cart. And both nurses made
many, many trips to the dumpster to throw
away spent, single-use PPE, which the
staff had been laundering and re-using.

12

PA College / Winter 2021

They also offered critical support to
those who were still healthy enough
to work. When they arrived, the
nursing supervisor had been up for
16 hours and was exhausted. " She
was so distraught from what she had
experienced, that she just poured it
out, " says Heisey. " I listened, which
is what she really needed. "

find the RRHCP work - of educating,
giving flu shots, swabbing for COVID-19,
touring facilities and strategizing on
how to improve infection prevention
- highly rewarding.
But it was that night in August that
crystallized their role and impact as nurses.

At 1 a.m., the National Guard arrived
with more PPE, and seven hours later,
Eisenhour and Heisey were headed
home, exhausted and wishing that they
could have stayed a few more days.

" I've never seen anything like that or
that much death, " Heisey reflects.
" [That night] we were seeing so much
suffering, and there was not much
we could do other than make people
comfortable. With Janet with me, we
could hold each other up. "

" We were needed back in Lancaster County,
though, and the staff [at the facility]
now knew how to protect their population, "
says Heisey, who teaches a public health
course at PA College in the BSN program
as an adjunct faculty member.

" In nursing, there is no such thing as
status quo, " adds Eisenhour. " In the
blink of an eye, you need to change how
you care for people. This experience
made me feel proud to be a nurse -
this is why I got into this line of work. "

The RRHCP grant finished December
30. A related program, the Regional
Congregant Care Assistance Team,
began on December 31 and continues
through February 28 to provide
COVID-19 support to long-term care
facilities. It is hoped that funding will
continue as needed through Spring 2021
for these very vulnerable communities.
Both Heisey and Eisenhour say they

The pandemic, she says, has changed
nursing.
" The young people who are entering
nursing now realize that it is an everchanging profession, " says Eisenhour,
who hails from a nursing family.
" COVID-19 has taught them that
there is more to nursing than handing
out pills and sending patients to the lab.
It's about caring for human beings. " n
PA College Magazine - Winter 2021

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