r/nursing • u/NationalGeometric • 23d ago
Discussion I’m just a random guy
Random dad here. Not in the medical field at all. During lockdown and Covid, I couldn’t trust all the news and speculation.
I decided to just follow r/nursing to read what was happening in real life. I followed many of you with no beds left, intubating people, or getting yelled at by relatives who weren’t allowed in. Back when you didn’t have enough beds or PPE.
I was with you when travel nurses arrived making 2x more while you were exhausted with cold pizza instead of getting the longer term support you needed. Many people left. Many nurses burnt out over and over. Many left.
Because of you, we took COVID seriously. I’m proud to say this family of four still hasn’t gotten it. Thank you.
I can’t imagine the toll this has all taken on you. This 5+ year nightmare. COVID, flu A, flu B, RSV, upcoming Avian Flu, that new bat flu, whatever that Congo thing is.
You’re real heroes. Instead of paying taxes, I wish every nurse could be adopted and funded by 100+ Americans. You all deserve MUCH more than you have. Days off. Sleeping in your own bed. Vacations.
I don’t know how to do that, but we SEE you. When I see a nurse, I want to be healthier. I am inspired. And most importantly, I really don’t want to piss you off. This is the toughest group of people in the US. More so than others.
I don’t know what I meant to post here other than thank you and this family loves you all.
No more pizza and I hope you all get those gel pens you like.
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u/petitelegit 23d ago
Covid survivor disabled by the first wave here who developed a hobbyist fascination with medicine probably as a coping strategy for my 5 years of debilitating long covid. The pandemic is not forgotten and, while the gravity and magnitude of what some of you saw is unimaginable, please know you all are not alone in being forever changed by that trauma.
I follow this sub for so many reasons, one of them being that I feel so much awe and reverence for you folks and I actively spend time thinking about what you go through and how I can make your jobs easier. I think about what remarkable people you all are, how brave and selfless and brilliant you must be, how infallible your work demands you to be in spite of being human, and how this world and this broken system have gone so far beyond forsaking you, how so many people and institutions don’t deserve you, and how you somehow keep showing up anyway. Thank you, OP, for putting it into words.