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ANNOUNCER: Now, from CBS4 NEWS,
this is Facing South Florida,
with Jim DeFede.
♪♪
Good morning, and welcome
to Facing South Florida.
This morning I'm proud to say we
have something very special to
present to you.
Something you
haven't seen before.
We are going to take you inside
a COVID unit at Jackson Memorial
Hospital, so you can hear
directly from what those ICU
nurses on the front lines.
You will hear their fears,
their anguish, their pain.
We started this
project in mid July,
as south Florida was exploding
with new Coronavirus cases,
and we didn't know
what we would capture,
but what we found is an
important part of the story,
that is often overlooked.
My shift is over,
first shift of three,
and honestly, last
night wasn't too bad,
but you know, it's a new bad
now since COVID is around.
JIM: An ICU nurse at
Jackson Memorial Hospital,
Daphne Stewart, now ends each
12 hour shift alone in her car,
offering the same solemn prayer.
Oh, thank you, dear God.
JIM: She's grateful
her shift is over.
Grateful that she's safe,
and on this day at least,
grateful no one
died in her unit.
That's not always at the case.
Nearly 500 COVID patients have
died at Jackson Health System,
since the pandemic began.
Nor, are doctors
or nurses immune.
Among the first
victims of the virus,
was one of their own,
Araceli Buendia Ilagan,
a Jackson nurse for 33 years.
It's just a different
vibe in the hospital,
in the atmosphere.
I don't know.
Just a different vibe.
JIM: Since the first COVID
patients started showing up at
Jackson five months ago, there
is a grim sense of resolve for
those on the front lines.
You can see I on their faces,
a stoicism that comes with not
knowing when all
of this will end.
I'm here ready to
start my shift.
JIM: To better
understand their struggles,
we asked Daphne to
document parts of her day.
DAPHNE: Are y'all
ready to start?
JIM: And we asked her
to pose a few questions
to her fellow nurses.
DAPHNE: And you do know that
this might be broadcasted
on TV, internet?
I hope it is, so you can see the
real pain that a normal person,
or a real person
is going through.
You can see the exhaustion.
You can see the emotional strain
it's putting on everybody.
If I'm straining, and
my family's suffering,
everybody should see this pain.
JIM: What Daphne
captured was unexpected.
Especially these pictures, the
portraits of those on the front
line that reveal so
much, the long hours,
the helplessness of watching
this virus take young and old
alike, and the doubts about
whether their job is placing
their own families at risk.
DAPHNE: We're in my unit, the
trauma intensive care unit,
and I'm going in the
back to get my gear,
my caps, and put on
my goggles, my N-95.
This is where we keep
five of the COVID patients,
and we have a zipper.
They zip there, and
let you in and out.
How you all doing?
Fine.
DAPHNE: I'm recording, okay?
I'll catch up with you all
later when you have minute.
JIM: Since the
beginning of March,
nearly 8,000 COVID patients
have been admitted to
Jackson Health System.
Daphne recalls those early days.
DAPHNE: My first COVID
patient I took care of,
I'll never forget him.
I'll never forget that incident.
I had to float to another
floor, and within four hours,
a guy, he was
about 45-years-old,
he was dead.
It was just him
and I in the room.
JIM: Because visitors are
not allowed in the hospital,
it is almost a nurse who
is with them when they die.
I've been a trauma
nurse for many years,
and I've taken care of all
kinds of catastrophic cases,
and the most
memorable, I will admit is,
a COVID patient
that I took care of.
She was an elderly patient, and
for some reason just watching,
just watching this
patient suffocate,
literally to death, and not
being able to have any curable,
or anything to
just ease her pain.
There's nothing you
can give for pain.
There's nothing you
can do for oxygen.
There's nothing you can do,
but just watch them just dwindle
away, is the most, the most
horrific memory I'll carry with
me forever.
I was one of the first, like
from our unit to float to a
COVID floor.
Both of my patients
were really, really sick.
They were, they were so
sick that they're the kind of
patients on this
unit that we single.
They were paralyzed.
One of them was being
prone, multiple pressers each.
He also needed
Fentanil, a propofol,
and ketamine, because
sedating him was an issue,
so I mean, they
were really sick.
And the scariest part for me
was the fact that I couldn't see
them, because
central six is not in ICU.
They're like regular rooms, and
there's no window in the door,
and there's no
monitor outside, no camera,
no nothing, and when
I closed that door,
I have no idea what's
going on with those patients.
I can't see the monitor.
I can't see the patient, and
just my anxiety was through the
roof for an entire 12 hours.
I, I mean at one point I
actually cried in the bathroom
from how tense I was.
DAPHNE: You cried?
JIM: Five months
into the pandemic,
a rhythm forms even as the
number of patients increase.
As an institution, Jackson
has shown an amazing ability
to process suffering.
It's getting easier.
DAPHNE: It's getting what?
Easier, but it's still
not easy, so you know,
we're still, we're
still battling this.
You know, people out in the
streets are still not protecting
themselves, and they're
still not wearing masks,
and they think that
this is not real,
and they're focused on the
numbers of how many new numbers,
and I want them to
focus on the deaths,
because they're saying that
they're making up all these
numbers, right?
Okay, they're making them up,
but I come here and I'm focused,
and one death is enough.
One death is too many.
Are you going to
call the family member,
are you going to tell them?
I don't want to be
the one to do it.
I don't.
JIM: And lest we forget
they have their own
families to worry about.
I have had moments where
I'd stay away from home,
just to be safe,
weeks at a time.
Both of my parents, for example,
are like when are we going to
see you, when are
we going to see you?
But considering that
my parents are older,
and my dad is
like, a sickly one,
so I kind of
refrained and I said,
listen, this is not the
perfect time for me to see you,
because you just don't know.
My mom is 86, and my
dad is 89-years-old,
and it's just really
taking a toll on me.
I think about it, we've been
dealing with this since March.
I have an ill mom that I have
not been able toe see in about
six months, and I'm
really scared for her,
and my heart
breaks, because I can't,
my mother, her heart breaks
too, that she can't see me,
of course, but my heart breaks,
because I don't know if I have
much more time with her.
I feel like I'm choosing
the job over my parents,
my patients over my parents.
JIM: The fear for
some is palpable.
Ashley, for instance,
has a young child at home.
DAPHNE: So, you don't take your
equipment off for the entire?
I don't, I know people
that feel safe and they do,
but that's not how I do it.
If I need to get
something to drink,
I need to eat, I
take my few minutes,
I run to my car, and I go to
take off my equipment in the
fresh air, get a quick bite,
you know with a sip of water,
and then come
right back to work.
DAPHNE: Have you
thought about quitting?
I love what I do.
I am proud to say
that I do what I do,
and coming to work everyday
has been a extreme struggle.
I've thought about it, and
I'm like maybe I should just,
you know, give up
on just working,
but then reality
strikes back then.
Why?
Because number one,
I'm a nurse, I care.
So I wonder, I'm going to be
working for how many more years,
and will this be my new norm?
Will I be with
all this equipment?
Will it be for one year, or
will it be for two years?
JIM: None of them
enjoy wearing the masks.
I come home sometimes
and my sinuses hurt,
I get sinus headaches
because of these masks.
For me, one of my most
challenging things is keeping a
mask on, because I have
my moments where I'm like,
I need to breathe,
and I need to breathe.
So, Dr. Lynnie an I are
there working with the patient,
and we're both coughing,
looking at each other,
and I said, don't you feel like
you have COVID when you wear the
masks, you suffer the symptoms?
You have a cough.
You have an itchy throat.
Your nose starts to run,
and your eyes start to
get really light.
DAPHNE: You do feel like, is
that a sore throat coming on?
Yeah.
It's difficult to
breathe through.
You know, it's
stressful and hot.
JIM: She showed Daphne the
red rutted lines on her face,
when she takes
off the respirator.
I've had the mask on
for about 30 minutes.
DAPHNE: And already
your face is like that.
Already.
DAPHNE: Does it hurt?
Uh, the bridge of my nose.
It does take a
toll on us mentally,
and definitely physically,
especially wearing the masks.
We know we have to do that, and
we would hope that the community
does that as well.
JIM: That sentiment is
repeated time and time again.
There's little patience for
those who refuse to wear
a mask in society.
But I tell you one thing.
If I can do it for nearly 11
hours out of the whole day,
there is no reason why you
should not be able to wear
a mask for 20-30 minutes,
wherever you're going that has
a population of people that
you need to social distance.
It makes no sense to me,
and if you can't do that,
then you really need to think
about the kind of person that
you are, and what you
think of your fellow person.
I really think you should.
JIM: At the end of her
shift, Daphne ran into Ashley,
carrying her dirty
clothes in a bag.
DAPHNE: With all of
your dirty clothes.
Okay, how are you feeling?
How was your shift?
Long.
DAPHNE: Long?
Yeah.
Long day.
DAPHNE: Okay.
JIM: Daphne won't be far behind.
She'll be back in her car,
offering prayerful thanks,
her shift is over.
I want to thank Daphne
and all of the nurses who
shared their experiences.
And although hate number of
deaths in recent weeks have
consistently set
records in Florida,
there is reason
for some optimism,
as hospitalizations in Dade
and Broward have begun to drop.
Experts believe it is because we
began enforcing a mask mandate.
Let's hope that trend continues.
When we come back, my
interview with Alex Peneles,
a candidate once again for