Nebraska Med nurse details life inside coronavirus unit

She said she is seeing an influx of patients coming in with a variety of symptoms, including a cough, fever and sore throat.

OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Those at the front lines of the COVID-19 outbreak are our doctors, nurses and health care providers. Not only are they working to keep their patients healthy, it’s important they take care of themselves.

Our news partner, KMTV, talked to Lauren Lesiak, a registered nurse at nebraska medicine, is working in a 24-bed unit specifically for coronavirus patients. She said she is seeing an influx of patients coming in with a variety of symptoms, including a cough, fever and sore throat.

“It really just kind of depends on how severe their illness is and what underlying conditions they have that go along with it,” Lesiak said.

As the number of patients increase, the potential for nurses and doctors to become exposed heightens, and the more doctors and nurses that get sick, the less staff and resources available to battle this novel virus.

“We are using our gowns that are reusable which is helpful, because at the beginning we were using disposable gowns – but these are laundry through the hospital and so we are able to reuse those,” Lesiak said.

A national shortage in face masks has forced the hospital to get creative, using an ultra-violet light to decontaminate protective equipment so they can be used more than once.