In The Field: Looking Back and Looking Ahead, a Special Edition
“March seems like a lifetime ago,” writes Luke Adams in a Facebook post. “I didn’t know what to expect, but I know I left with a sense of hope. I left to ‘save lives’. I remember thinking that I’d come home in a few days. I didn’t come home for three months, and I’m not sure I saved any.” A critical care RN, who has spent over a decade in critical care units across the country, Adams has left his family to rejoin the frontlines against COVID-19 as infection rates surge and hospital beds fill up. He is one of many nurses sacrificing his own well-being for the sake of the patients and profession he loves- and he’s also one of the many channeling his experience into making his voice heard.
Luke Adams with his family on a vacation in July.
Healthcare worker or not, those who went through the earliest months of the pandemic in New York City will never forget the grim fear of that time. The constant sirens. The cold air. The empty, eerie streets. Bodies being carried out of hospitals to trucks. Reports of hospitals so crowded, patients were dying before they could even receive a bed. The echo of clapping and cheering during shift change. New York City became a global epicenter at a time when COVID-19 was only just starting to make its way across the country. The city was drowning, and nurses and other healthcare workers nationwide answered the call for help. They suited up and flew in to help their comrades push back what felt like a constantly rising, never ending wave of critically ill and dying patients. Luke Adams is one of these nurses.
Many would call Adams a hero. There are others who would say he abandoned his family. But at his core, he is no different than any other nursing professional trying to make it through the pandemic. He feels called to what he does. He loves his family. He misses his wife and kids. And he just wants the rest of the country to learn from New York City’s experience, and his own.
“Up to 1200 Americans a day died and it was most likely a nurse wrapping every single body into one of the white bags that got all the news coverage. It was most likely a nurse that called and had to absorb the grief of an entire family on speakerphone.”
The contrast between his reality and a civilian’s is stark. The rich retreat to posh homes and collect bonuses in one had, while laying off employees with the other. “12, 14, or 16 hours a day for 5, 6, or 7 days a week we soldiered on….. there’s a bond that doesn’t need to be spoken between people who experience death and despair of that magnitude,” he recalls, feeling simply glad that the rest of the country didn’t feel the strain that New York City felt at that moment.
But here we are again: to cold days and hospital beds filling up, and this time, there is no one epicenter. Healthcare staff, and their resources are stretched thin from coast to coast. Addressing corporations and hospitals that seek to put profits over patients, Luke points out that they waited until their hospital beds started filling up again to increase their staff numbers.
“The problem is that while you were figuring out how to save a few dollars, this virus was figuring out how to infiltrate every corner of the nation.”
“You’re asking us to strap on our armor and head back into a battle, again without the necessary weapons.” Any nurse- and any nurse’s loved ones- would agree that this just isn’t sustainable.
Nurses like Luke are once again having to leave their loved ones at home to help their loved ones in the field. They’ll miss the holidays. They’re still going into battle without adequate armor, and this time, they’re not leaving hopeful or quietly. “It’s the Year of the Nurse and we’ll be damned if we’re going to see any of them falter now. We didn’t create this problem, but we’re going to solve it for you. We’ll get through this winter with the same grace, grief, levity, and loyalty to patients that we’ve displayed all year long,” he writes in a call to arms that packs a punch. And when this is done? “We’re coming for answers. Myself and about 4 million of my friends.”
It’s nurses like Luke who are fighting for each other through this pandemic and who are fighting to have their voices heard by friends, politicians, and CEOs. It’s their perspectives and their stories we need to be finding comfort in and paying attention to. Luke has been kind enough to share some of his thoughts with me, on patient communication and advice for nurses experienced and new. If you’ve found your way here because you are a nurse, take comfort in the fact that one of our veterans is looking out for us even as he suits up to go back into battle. If you’ve found your way here because your loved one is a nurse, let Luke’s perspective fuel you to fight for the nurses you love.
ND: Any self care or mental health tips for new nurses?
LA: Learning how to say "no" is one of the most powerful skills a nurse can learn. Whether that is no to extra shifts even though you KNOW the unit needs help, or no to an unsafe assignment, or no to additional duties that are seemingly continuously thrust upon nurses, we are still only human and can only do so much. Don't sell your soul for organizations that don't put emphasis on you in return.
ND: TRUE or FALSE: Nurses eat their young
LA: Dichotomy is the root of all evil. Sometimes is a more accurate answer than either True or False.
ND: What current events outside of nursing are you most passionate about?
LA: I believe in the power of having open, honest conversations with patients that drive them to truly understand their health status, the limitations of medicine, and how to best align the two within the framework of the patient's value system. These conversations can be hypothetical or actual, they can center around code status or prognosis. The fact remains that it is nobody's job, specifically, within the hospital system to facilitate these conversations in a meaningful way which has led to prolonged hospitalizations and suffering for patients. These problems have far-reaching consequences and they have been exacerbated during the time of COVID-19. There was always a need for clearer and more compassionate communication within the Provider-Patient relationship, but the time to act is now.
Luke Adams has been a Critical Care Nurse for 10+ years. He recently started his own company, Advanced Care Solutions which empowers individuals to create patient-centered Advanced Directives that evolve with their age and health status.
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