CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Clinical leaders for Advocate Aurora Health, handling a large portion of in-patient Chicagoans with COVID-19, said hospitals are better equipped for a second wave, but that doctors and nurses are still human.
Executive Medical Director of Infectious Disease and Prevention for Advocate Aurora Dr. Robert Citronberg said a major stressor for medical care staff during the first wave was not having enough PPE to go around.
"We are pleased to report that is not currently an issue. We have a robust supply of PPE for all of our team members," he said.
Dr. Citronberg said what hasn't changed is the extreme physical and mental toll provided care has; and it is not just going through the working motions that has nurses and doctors fatigued, said Chief Nursing Officer Mary Beth Kingston.
"I asked one of the nurses, 'how are you doing?' and he kind of turned his head away from me and then he turned it back and said 'it's really hard. We get very close to our patients, and to lose a patient as you get to know them that well is very difficult,'" she said.
Kingston said resources available for critical health care professionals include access to mental health services.
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In addition to those resources, Kingston said relief is on the way.
Local medical group Advocate Aurora Health at their hospitals have been assigning roles to volunteers and nursing students to take on tasks that don’t require a critical health care professional, allowing nurses and doctors to focus on patient care.
"We proactively requested agencies, or you may be more familiar with the term travel nurses," said Chief Nursing Officer Mary Beth Kingston.
Kingston said some of those requests have already been filled with individuals coming into Illinois and Wisconsin near the end of November to begin work.
"But we also know we are competing with the rest of our region, and the rest of our country for that resource," she said.
The local medical group is also connecting with recently retired nurses.