Covid-19 Meets Artificial Insemination: from Nursing Home Frontlines
They wail. They cry. They don’t understand. “Honey, just let me die, “ she pleads, as I finish her wound dressing, followed quickly by, “You won’t let me die, will you?” I can only hold her hand and rub her back, brush the hair back from her furrowed brow. My measure of comfort seems so limited in these strange times where everything seems limited — masks and face shields in particular, otherwise known as PPE — but mostly the luxury of time for those of us who run the halls of nursing homes. I run to my next patient calling out for her daughter.
My work as a registered nurse seems far removed from my work as a young Mennonite girl on a dairy farm. Yet there are similarities. I remember the veterinarian who came to our farm, striking an alien-like pose in his long gloves that extended from his fingers to his shoulders: gloves used for artificial insemination. Now these same type gloves have been donated to a local nursing home in their fight against Covid-19.
I wonder, “How did we get here?” FEMA told the nursing home they had to have their first confirmed case of Covid-19 before sending PPE. In the meantime, we are all exposed. And out of time.
