ICU Nurses Share Message With Fellow Oklahomans After ‘Exhausting’ 18 Months

Some intensive care nurses at Saint Francis hospital said they've had an exhausting 18 months. They’re sharing what it's like to remind people of what COVID is still doing to our community.

ICU nurses at Saint Francis said they’re exhausted and frustrated thinking the increase in COVID-19 numbers could have been prevented.

They want people to know they’re still going through this every single day.

Meghan Shrewsbury started as a Cardiac ICU nurse at St. Francis at the end of 2019, ready to get to work.

"I had three to four months of normal nursing," Shrewsbury said.

Shrewsbury said when COVID-19 hit, everything changed. The work became overwhelming, and she said she hit her limit at the end of 2020.

“Around December or so, I was exhausted, and coming to terms with the fact that I was burnt out," Shrewsbury said. “I kind of lost the joy of it.”

Shrewsbury said moving units and the arrival of vaccines helped her, but she said now, it feels like nurses are overwhelmed even more than before.

“I’ve struggled a lot with realizing that this time it could have been prevented," Shrewsbury said.

“We’re overwhelmed and tired," said Clinical Manager Betsy Brooks. "We don't have beds.”

Meghan’s boss Brooks manages about 100 people in the Cardiac ICU. She said the nurses are seeing younger and younger, mostly unvaccinated patients die from COVID-19, and it’s been hard on her strong, tired staff.

“One of the hardest things is trying to encourage my own staff and keep them positive and going," Brooks said.

Shrewsbury and Brooks said they’re always going to help, it’s just what they do. But they are pleading with people to just listen to them, get vaccinated, and do their part to save people in the community.

“I'm more frustrated we're back here again," Shrewsbury said. "What will it take to make people wake up and realize this will take all of us to get through?”