As Veterans Day approaches, I cannot begin to imagine the bravery and valor of the young men and women who charged into battle, sometimes with the most rudimentary equipment and resources but still stayed steadfast to the cause they believed in. They were in trenches, landed on beaches, and even
as warfare modernized and foes became distant, their spirit of bravery and passion to the cause of freedom remained unchanged. Their ultimate sacrifice gave us the freedom in which we believe. Those Veterans are the heroes we remember on Veterans Day.
These past 18 months have been challenging for those of us in healthcare. Covid 19 spread like wildfire from China to every country on Earth and it was the true WORLD WAR that we in health care fought. We went into battle, true to our oath that we take when we graduate from our respective schools in healthcare. We rushed into battle with Covid 19 sometimes with meager resources, with limited provider teams, yet we never stepped back. On our Covid units whether they were in PCUs or ICUs we fought tirelessly and with determination. We did not know our enemy well, yet we were not afraid as we were the only form of defense, and we did it for humanity. We constantly molded to information we received from healthcare professionals from around the world, we constantly tried to navigate the challenge that Covid 19 placed before us. In regular warfare, soldiers train with different scenarios but for us in healthcare we could never have imagined the challenges Covid 19 placed before us. Yes, just like in any battle there are casualties, and we had many. We have patients left permanently scarred from the virus. With the blessing of social media, we had ease of exchanging information regarding the constantly changing landscape of the war against Covid 19 and along with it came the “social media experts” on Covid 19. Everyone was a Covid expert, and that made our job in the battle against Covid 19 even more difficult. We constantly had to defend our treatment protocols (which were put together and constantly updated with data). The question we asked ourselves was would someone with no training in warfare be allowed to advise a general on how to fight a war?
The first wave of Covid 19 came in April to September 2020. We were exhausted as case numbers came down finally after vaccines were approved in December 2020. Million wanted to get vaccinated and as companies worked overtime to make more vaccines available, we thought we had a defense against Covid 19. Then we had the vaccine naysayers and with the help of social media spread this wave of misinformation regarding Covid 19 vaccines. This led to another wave of Covid 19 with the Delta variant from July to September 2021. Majority of the cases were seen in unvaccinated individuals and once again those of us in healthcare stepped into the battlefield, donned our gowns, gloves, protective eye and face coverings and walked fearlessly into the rooms of those infected with Covid 19. We lost patients, young and old, pregnant mothers some of whom delivered and then lost their battle with Covid 19, leaving behind infant children. Yes, we had trained for years to manage sick patients, but this was and is different. It has tested us mentally and physically.
Our toughest battle with our elite troops in healthcare was fought in ICUs where we cared for the sickest Covid 19 patients. We had some successes but a lot of failures. We defended in the best way we knew. Now I know how those troops who parachuted behind enemy lines without much information must have felt. They were the heroes who provided further reconnaissance. To all those and to all Veterans we pay tribute on Veterans Day.
We who are the Veterans of Covid 19, continue to remain on the battlefield in the ICU are tired. We are exhausted. We hope and pray that we never see what we saw a few weeks ago in our hospitals. We urge people to get the correct and reliable information from those of us who have been in the battlefield of Covid 19 and not from those who have never seen a sick patient with COVID 19. Will we ever be remembered as the “Covid 19 veterans” who fearlessly stepped into unknown and unchartered territory to save humanity as we believed in our cause?
“And whoever saves the life of one person is as if he has saved the life of the whole of mankind” (Quran 5:32)
May God bless our Veterans and may God bless us all.
The ICU Diaries 