“I think about the people who are waiting in the waiting room, and they’ll just share their stories while they’re waiting,” said Madeline Blair, freshman nursing major and intercultural studies minor. “I think it’s the most beautiful thing that there’s so many people that can find joy in the midst of such sorrow.”
On March 12, Union University students received an email letting them know that classes would be moved to an online format. The next day, they went to what would be their last in-person class with their professors. The following weeks would include starting online classes, spring break and many students returning only to move off campus for the remainder of the semester. For Blair, these weeks were the hardest. While most grieved the loss of their semesters and saying goodbye to friends amidst the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, Blair was also navigating her job as a family representative in the emergency room at Jackson General Hospital.
Blair has been balancing school and work since the start of the semester, but changes due to COVID-19 made it feel like her world had been turned upside down. Working 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. shifts, Blair slept through her first online class, and while her professors were generous, she knew she would have to learn how to balance her urge to constantly be at the hospital helping out with her commitment to school.
“To almost be up there all the time helping out would be my instinct. But also, you know, I have a responsibility to my schoolwork, and I’ve made a commitment there too,” said Blair.
It can be difficult, though, when Blair sits down to work on her online classes, knowing what her colleagues are going through at the hospital. While their jobs weren’t easy before the pandemic, now they mean stepping up to the front lines.
When the hospital began receiving information about COVID-19, new, ever-evolving policies were made, and Blair, alongside many of her coworkers, moved down to triage, where they are tasked with screening each person coming in the door. The screening process includes asking a series of questions and checking temperatures, vital signs and sometimes oxygen levels. Patients are then given a colored wrist band informing nurses where the patient should go and how at-risk the patient is for the virus.
“There’s a bit of an element of club bouncer to it because they’ve also enforced very strict no-visitor policies for the most part,” said Blair. “That’s by far the most difficult part of the job because there are few exceptions.”
Women in labor, children, those going into surgery and those with dementia who aren’t able to answer questions for themselves are each allowed one person to be with them.
“So it’s really difficult, of course. You want people to be able to have their loved ones, but it’s also a strong conviction that you’re keeping people safe,” said Blair.
The reactions of visitors when they are told they cannot come in with their loved one were difficult for Blair to describe.
“Some people have been so very generous,” said Blair. “It’s really amazed me, the flexibility of the human spirit. There have been people who are so kind, who’ve come in and completely understand and want to do anything they can to help us.”
Ashley Blair, Blair’s mom and acting chair and associate professor of communication arts, said that this aspect of Blair’s work has made Ashley more aware of all the other people who are suffering.
“The people who cannot be with their loved ones in the hospital, the family members who have to drop someone off at the ER and not know if they will ever see them again,” said Ashley. “And also for the people like Madeline who have to be the one to tell them they cannot come in. It breaks her heart every time.”
And while many are kind to Blair and the other medical staff, others react more strongly, struggling to grasp that they cannot stay with their loved one. Several hard situations mean that there is now a security guard that sits with Blair and her coworkers in the triage area, but Blair has remained empathetic. While some incidents were too difficult for Blair to repeat, she clings to the kindness shown to her by many.
“There are just so many extraordinary little things that happen in the course of a day that I think of,” said Blair. “And none of them are grand; they all kind of weave together into one, just the small acts of kindness that I think will come to define this time as much as the hardships.”
Many of those acts of kindness are exchanged between Blair, her colleagues and the visitors told they can’t stay.
“The common human kindness and just understanding, listening to people’s situations,” said Blair. “Just some visitors, we know we can’t let them in for their safety, but we’ll talk to them for a little bit, just listen to what they’re going through, help them process. They know they’re eventually going to have to go back out, but it helps them standing right there to just kind of get the thoughts off their mind.”
Sometimes, being a hero means nothing more than offering a listening ear.
“With every day, even with every hardship, I know more certainly that this is what I want to do with my life,” said Blair. “I want to be there. I want to be the first person people see in the door sometimes. I want to be there when the going gets tough, ‘cause you know in the ER, if people go there, they really need someone. Their injury may not be that severe, but if that’s where they wind up, they’re going to need someone. And I want to be that someone.”
What’s almost beyond comprehension is Blair’s humility as she considers those who are sheltering at home.
“Another thing that’s helped me through the more physical hardships of it is gratitude for the fact that I’m in a position where I am able to help,” said Blair. “And I was thinking about, you know, if I was sitting at home it would be a bit more difficult, I think. So I have a lot of empathy and respect for the role that people who are at home are playing, too. I think that’s really one of the most heroic things someone can do in this situation.
“Staying at home, it seems so small,” said Blair. “Every time someone stays home, it’s making it easier for everyone that’s working at the hospital. And that’s really the greatest blessing the community can give us, is staying home, staying smart, keeping clean, keeping their people clean.”
It’s okay that those who are sheltering at home are feeling helpless because really, it is helping the most.
“I would hope as people are making decisions about whether they are going to leave the house or not during these critical weeks, that they would think of Madeline and stay home for her and all the other Madelines on the front line,” said Ashley Blair. “And I hope in that moment they feel our gratitude. That this will connect them if they aren’t connected to the healthcare community in some way, that this will connect them, like, ‘Oh, there is someone’s daughter, someone’s sister, someone’s friend that is having to stand there on that front line, and we need to pray for them and we need to shelter in place for them so that we can flatten the curve.’”
When we shelter in place, praying for the suffering in this pandemic to end, it’s not only for doctors and nurses. It’s for Madeline, who is not yet a medical professional, for people who are working in maintenance at the hospital, for those who are having to clean up after people who have been infected, for technicians and for many others. These are the ones on the front lines and the ones we stay home for.
“I’m hoping,” said Blair. “I’m hoping for peace for those who are suffering. Because obviously the Lord’s will be done, so of course I could hope that everything will just work out perfect. But that’s not to be, I don’t think. So I can hope for peace for those who are suffering, for wisdom for people who are making decisions and how they’re spending their time and resources in particular. Just hoping that people will stay at home, that they will contribute what they can to those around them, that they will choose to do the right thing. I do have faith, you know, in that way. I think people will come together as they haven’t in quite a time, and I really think it’ll be a beautiful thing to see. So, hope and faith.”
Photo courtesy of Kristi McMurry Woody
