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JERSEY SHORE -- Being a nurse amidst a scary, everchanging pandemic is a difficult task. Christine Gharet, nursing assistant and unit desk clerk and Mona Bertin night shift inpatient nurse, both at Geisinger Jersey Shore Hospital, didn't let the pandemic stop them, but instead used their love for nursing and their patients to push them forward.
As National Nurses Week came to an end on May 12, the Sun-Gazette interviewed both Gharet and Bertin about their experiences as a nurse during the pandemic and onward.
"It has been rough on everybody…seeing the different people and the virus going through different people," Gharet said. "You see younger people who you would think would survive but didn't... it had different effects on people."
She and Bertin even added that administrators would even pitch in for help on the floor when times were tough and staff was limited.
"We played a big part as a team…that helped us get through," Gharet said.
"We (nurses) were who they saw every day; we became their family members," Bertin added. "Doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, housekeeping, everybody in healthcare was very important and pulled together to give the patients the best care."
"The COVID patients need a little more attention because they are closed off from everyone," Gharet said. "It is nice to spend a few more minutes with them, help them finish a puzzle, help them with shampooing…whatever it takes."
"People are very vulnerable," Bertin said. "The people are really ill and it has been a lot to see."
Bertin even volunteers sometime at the Jersey Shore Hospital vaccine clinic that is out front of the hospital.
She said that patients that were walking in to get their vaccines were very appreciative for everyone there and for the opportunity to receive the vaccine.
The patient to nurse relationship was something that both Gharet and Bertin spoke fondly of.
As a nursing assistant for over 38 years, Gharet works to make sure the patient is comfortable by helping them with baths, dressing, feedings in the emergency room, in acute care, cardiac-rehab and even after same-day surgeries.
"Regardless if someone can talk, if you can look into their eyes and tell how they are feeling," Gharet. "If you can make them smile or laugh, that feels good. Things like that, it helps them a lot. It is the little things like that (laughing or smiling) that can make a patient's day."
She added that there are "so many ways to get rich in life" but seeing her patients smile or laugh is the best way to do it.
"It gives me a sense of pride to help people," said Bertin, who has been a nurse for 24 years.
She has worked in many different aspects of nursing including night shift inpatient, personal care in nursing homes, home nurse, as well as a primary care coordinator.
As a night shift inpatient nurse, she said that "we have more time to spend with the patient during their most vulnerable times."
"It isn't just about the (physical) care but also about their mental health and talking to them and letting them talk about things that are bothering them," she said.
As an inpatient nurse she helps administer medicines, assess and monitor patients as well as basic and general care for the patients.
"It is a very fulfilling career, especially over the years," she said.
Both Bertin and Gharet expressed the importance of vaccinations, masking and social distancing. For more information, visit https://www.geisinger.org/coronavirus/patients-and-visitors/covid-19-vaccine-faqs.