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Here Comes the Sun

Photos by Marc Lebryk

Hannah (Hughes) Blakley, BSN’17, is a nurse at IU Health West in Avon, Ind. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Blakley, who normally cares for those undergoing surgery, was tasked with attending to critical COVID-19 patients.

Below you’ll find our conversation with Blakley, as well as a video diary she kept over the course of a week at work in April.


What does your work schedule look like? How have your day-to-day duties changed?
Hannah Blakley: I’ve been picking up extra days since the surge of patients began. I usually work four 12-hour shifts a week. My day-to-day work has shifted a bit because we are limiting [our] time in [patient] rooms. We added cameras and are utilizing our call-light system as a way to communicate. It feels very strange.

Are you sleeping at home or elsewhere during this time?
HB: When this began, I asked my husband to go live with his parents so that there wouldn’t be any risk of me bringing [COVID-19] home to him. He responded by saying that he didn’t want me coming home to an empty house after having a hard, emotional day.

With that being said, I am taking a lot of precautions when I get home. I wear my own scrubs to work, change into new ones when I get [to the hospital], and then I come home in the scrubs I wore to work. I immediately throw everything into the wash and then shower before touching my husband or my dogs. Additionally, we try not to use my car for errands and my shoes stay in our laundry room. It’s draining to have worked a stressful 12-hour day and then have to come home and sanitize everything you’ve touched.

Hannah Blakley has been a nurse at IU Health West for more than three years.

How are you coping with the stress of each shift?
HB: My mother calls me after every shift and I tell her about the day I had, whether it involved holding my patient’s hand who is on hospice due to COVID-19, dancing to “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles while my patient is being discharged, or staying in a room too long to be there for my patient who is lonely and missing their family. It has been emotionally draining to work through this crisis, but it has been an honor to be my patients’ family while they’re fighting this alone.

What has been one of the hardest things about this pandemic?
HB: I’m an aunt. My niece is my world and not seeing her every week, watching her learn new words and activities has been hard. I can’t imagine being a mother right now in this crisis, because the anxiety I have trying to not expose my husband would be amplified if I had children in my home. I pray every day for the parents that have sent their children to stay with family or have been staying in a hotel to keep their kids from getting sick.

 

What is the atmosphere at the hospital like? How is everyone feeling about the crisis right now?
HB: When this all began, my team was scared and anxious about how COVID-19 would affect our hospital. Since then, we’ve grown together and learned to lean on one another. We are still fearful of a second wave, but I think we’ll be ready to fight it head-on.

Has there been a shortage of staff or personal protective equipment (PPE) at IU Health West?
HB: We haven’t felt a huge shortage on my team, but we are reusing masks more than we normally do. Our N95 masks are being cleaned and given back to us and our surgical masks can be cleaned if we don’t go into rooms with them. We have had a few coworkers call in with symptoms but only a couple. We have worked really hard to use proper donning and doffing methods to prevent us from being exposed.

Did any part of your education or time at IU prepare you for this?
HB: One thing I learned through my IU education was that nurses are resilient. So many patients have passed without family members by their side during [the coronavirus pandemic], but my team has stepped in and held their hands. We’ve cried because our patients are lonely. We’ve been on the phone with family explaining what intubation means for their loved one and heard their cries on the other line. My IU experience taught me that every nurse has a purpose, and our purpose now is to fight this to the very end.  

What do you love most about being a nurse?
HB: I love seeing my patients get better. When a COVID-19 patient gets discharged, we line the halls and clap as they leave our unit. I love knowing that what my team and I do makes a difference in the lives of others. Not every day is easy, but every day is worth it.

Hannah Blakley is just one of many IU alumni who have joined in the fight against COVID-19. This story series is our way of recognizing those who are going above and beyond during this health crisis. To us, they are nothing short of heroes.

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Written By

Samantha Stutsman

Samantha Stutsman, BAJ'14, is a Bloomington, Ind., native and a senior content specialist at the IU Alumni Association.

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