It is its third city to work on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic as Arizona presents a new location but a similar challenge.
Ronnie Rodriguez, a travel nurse, previously worked in hospitals in New York and Florida during the pandemic. She came to Arizona and started working at a hospital in Valley a few weeks ago.
“We are overwhelmed,” said Rodriguez. “Our [emergency rooms] are maxed; they open units that are not normally in use. “
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Rodriguez told ABC15 that the Valley Hospital scene is all too familiar.
“It’s as busy as anywhere,” she said. “I don’t think it’s as chaotic as New York, but compared to South Florida it’s very similar. I feel like it’s a little bit more structured here, so that definitely makes a difference.”
When dealing with some of the COVID-19 patients who can talk, Rodriguez said some have similar stories dating back to Thanksgiving gatherings.
“They’re like ‘we got together,’ and one family member might have been asymptomatic, and they didn’t have any symptoms, so everyone thought they were okay and after the holidays someone tested positive and everyone in the family got under it,” she said .
Rodriguez also said it’s not just about what she sees on the front line, but what she hears.
“In most hospitals it’s ‘code blue,'” said Rodriguez. So if you hear ‘code blue,’ it’s probably someone who has stopped breathing somewhere. Before COVID-19, you might hear it every now and then, you know it once a day. But now it’s eight, ten, twelve times a service. It is much.”
Rodriguez also shared that COVID-19 affects her not only professionally, but personally, as both of her parents are fighting the virus at the hospital in Florida. She said her father is still in intensive care.
“Around the clock, whether I’m at work or at home here in Arizona, I still have to worry about COVID-19,” she said. “It’s hard when it’s… your own family members. Makes it [another] level of difficult. “
However, she is determined to help fight the wave in Arizona.
“Nursing is a calling,” Rodriguez said. That’s what I have to do here. I have to. I have to help. ‘