Rebecca calls me on her day off, she sounds worn out. She speaks as eloquently as always but I can hear a strain in her voice. 4 weeks ago, Rebecca Segrest of Rome, GA. began work as a contracted ICU nurse at Columbia University Medical Center. She describes tremendous progress over the last two weeks, “We continue to adapt treatments. The good news is that things are starting to settle; we have fewer cases that require intubation.”
Segrest has seen the worst of this novel virus, yet as more and more of her patients progress from critical to stable she is torn in the stark transparent dichotomy of survival and life. She sees the efforts of herself and the other medical professionals, “ We are extremely talented in keeping people alive.” Though if asked about morale, she replies “We feel largely unsuccessful. It’s hard to get excited about going to work to keep people from dying, and not be able to help them live.”