Every day we’re faced with choices. Some are less important than others, like deciding what to wear or what to pack for lunch. Others are choices that put a lot of stress on our shoulders, like dealing with finances or how to care for an aging loved one. But right now, we’re dealing with a situation in our community that requires us all to make the choice to care for each other.
The nurses, doctors, medical technicians, pharmacists, food service and environmental service technicians — and thousands of other Geisinger employees such as me — wake up every day and choose to continue this fight against COVID-19. We choose to put on our masks, head into the hospital and clinics, and care for our friends, families and neighbors in the community. We make this choice because for so many of us in the health care field, it’s our calling — to put the well-being of others first and foremost.
Right now, we’re facing unbelievable strain and stress inside our hospital walls, and we choose to come in anyway so we can care for those who need us most. We’ve seen COVID-19 cases spike day after day here in Luzerne County. In November alone, we’ve admitted 75 new patients with COVID-19 between Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center and Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre. We’ve had double-digit numbers of COVID-19 inpatients since Oct. 10 at GWV. We’ve had more patients hospitalized with COVID-19 this fall than we did in the spring. Outside of the hospital, each day this month we’ve averaged two people per hour becoming infected with COVID-19.
Despite the increasing numbers, we’re choosing to come to work every day. But the concern in our eyes is because we’re seeing firsthand the pain and suffering this virus inflicts on our communities. And lately we’ve been seeing too many of our neighbors unnecessarily getting sick with COVID-19.
We can change the direction these numbers are heading. How? By choosing to look out for and take care of one another. We’ve lost 230 of our neighbors in Luzerne County to COVID-19. These 230 families won’t have their loved one with them this upcoming holiday season. But with your help, we can keep other families whole.
You can join us in this battle. It’s as easy as wearing a mask or face covering. Avoiding large (or even small) gatherings. When you choose inconvenience over self-interest, you are choosing life over death. Choose to help us — your neighbors — on the front lines of this pandemic.
Let’s help each other. We attend the same churches, our kids go to the same schools, we cheer for the same teams, we all celebrate the victories in our communities, and we all mourn our losses. We’re choosing to care for you. And we know we can count on you, our neighbors, to choose to care for us and each other.
Stephanie Rarig, MSN, RN, CCRN-K
Operations Manager, Intensive Care Unit and Observation Unit, at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center
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November 22, 2020 at 11:48AM
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Your view: It’s a matter of choice - Wilkes Barre Times-Leader
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