SUMTER, S.C. — When the first COVID-19 patient arrived at Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital, Cheryl Robinson, the nurse manager, said she immediately began to pray.
“I was really worried about my team because we didn’t know a lot about COVID and we just didn’t know what we know today,” Robinson said.
At that time, testing was slower, and it was unclear if the patient even had the virus.
When the results came back, “everybody was just like in awe,” Robinson said.
That was nearly one year ago.
Since then, it’s been a series of ebbs and flows as cases rise and fall. Last summer, she said, was one of the hardest times.
“We were seeing so many patients and it was almost, I would say, breathtaking as we scrambled to take care of those patients,” Robinson said. “It’s more than the images that you see on TV… It’s your community, it’s your friends, it’s your families that you’re seeing struggling to breathe and you’re doing everything you can do and sometimes all you do is not good enough.”
The impact was felt both at work and at home.
“We’re changing clothes before we went home from work or we would walk into the garage on the way home and drop your dirty clothes in the garage and run straight to the shower initially,” Dr. Scott Dilts, the medical director of the emergency department said.
“Lysol shoes in the garage,” Emergency Department Nurse Director Susan Gaymon added.
Today, things are better. While there’s no cure, treatments have advanced and everyone has become more knowledgeable.
“I don’t think any of us really think we’re heroes,” Dilts said. “I think we come to work and do what we’ve been doing for years.”
He said they feel honored to serve, and “we’re still here for them,” and still on the front lines.
“We’re happy the numbers are going down, but we’re feeling at a point of uncertainty,” Robinson said, “and we’re just praying that the public will do their part, get their vaccine and also wear their mask.”
Masking up, until the cases come down.