The new world after the Covid-19 pandemic through the eyes of the registered nurse Zuleima Mazo.

The stark contrast between these two photos demonstrates the drastic change that all nurses and the rest of healthcare workers have been forced to face during the 2020 pandemic.

It is not a secret that 2020 has been a difficult year for most of the North American population and the rest of the world. People have been forced into quarantine, which has prevented them not only from seeing their loved ones but also from having a normal lifestyle. Wherever they go, they should wear masks, gloves, carry hand sanitizer, and keep a distance of 6 feet to remain safe. Many people find this absurd. But those complaints could be considered irrelevant compared to the hard work healthcare workers face daily.

Very sick patients, lack of equipment, and overcrowded hospitals make this pandemic challenging for all health professionals. This is why their voices must be heard so that people see the importance of complying with the safety measures and to have a record of what is happening for future generations to understand the seriousness of the situation.

The following is a summary of an interview with a very hard worker registered nurse named Zuleima Mazo. She shared her perspectives about the Covid-19 pandemic and her experiences working on the frontlines. Her answers were beyond overwhelming and enlightening.

Not a hard decision

Zuleima is a Colombian American registered nurse who graduated from Pace University in 2016.  She was involved in the healthcare world since she was in 9^th grade. When attending the Alexander Hamilton High School, she was a volunteer at the Phelps Hospital in Tarrytown, NY. Her tasks were to do their transport and staying at the front desk. This exposure to this field and further research motivated her to become a nurse, which she finally made in her senior year of High School.

• 

• 

Hobbies

The few days that Zuleima is off from her job. She likes to walk her dog, Lilly. Explore new places in Manhattan and go to different restaurants.

The importance of being bilingual

Zuleima is bilingual. She speaks both Spanish and English. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, she has to use this skill more often. She explains that the pandemic is affecting minorities more than it affects White people. Because of this, the use of Spanish has become even more essential.

Her path to become a RN

She graduated in 2016, but while she was in college, she worked as a nurse technician at the White Plains Hospital in White Plains, NY. She did an internship in this hospital, and when she graduated, she was hired as a registered nurse for the cardiac stepdown unit. She liked working in that unit, and she is now transitioning to the cardiac intensive care unit (ICU) at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.

• 

• 

Favorite thing about being a RN

For Zuleima, the most rewarding thing about her job is when she can see her patients’ recovery after they are in critical condition, such as intubated or in need of a ventilator. For her seeing them going to rehab and having the possibility to go back home is one of the best things about nursing. To see a good outcome.

Different tasks

She explains that a good thing about nursing is that there is not a specific task that you have to do every day. It can vary depending on the type of patient. Not a specific routine. General communication and assessment.

Changes because of the pandemic

Zuleima mentions that the nursing process itself has not changed; “we are still using our nursing judgment but definitely the patients’ acuity, meaning how sick the patients are definitely has changed. We all are running around constantly, and we are getting tired pretty quickly. Because the patients are getting so sick, we are working 100% all the time”.  

• 

• 

Fear to the unexpected

When Zuleima learned that Covid-19 became a pandemic, she was scared and crying. She did not want to go work and wanted to go home and stay with her family because she knew she would put them at risk. But her parents gave her reassurance and were able to calm her down. Once she started working with Covid-19 patients, she realized that she had to be wearing her PPE, which lowered her anxiety.  She says that she is still a little anxious to bring the disease back to her parents, but it is just part of life right now.

US government decisions over the pandemic

About the government handling the pandemic Zuleima says “I think that here in New York We have a great governor. Governor Cuomo has done a great job dealing with the pandemic. He did a great job at sourcing PPE, ventilators and getting supplies from other states and dealing with China when it is not even his job to deal with China. On the other hand, I think the President did a terrible job. He denied this whole thing. He put the responsibilities on the governors which as a President, even if some of the responsibility has to go to the governors, more of the responsibility should be yours. He gave so much misinformation to people. On top of that, him rallying and no social distancing and not following the general rules that have been set in this pandemic. All of that has influence the raising of this pandemic. I would not be surprised if that is why we are in a second wave now. I wish he would go to a hospital where there are people with vents and witness having to choose which patient gets the vent because we are running out of them.” 

Stress and anxiety

The way Zuleima handles stress is by working hard and resting. The few times she is at home, she tries to sleep and get as much rest as possible, especially because working at night is tough.

Advice to ‘anti-mask’ protesters

“I would say wear a mask. That’s my advice for them. This whole thing has been so politicized, and I think in part because of the president. For these people, I just wish they could go to hospitals and see what is going on. A part of me would like to have a law where if you don’t wear a mask, you don’t deserve to go to a hospital because you are putting all the healthcare workers and their families at risk all because you are not wearing a mask. I have to wear a mask for 13 hours shifts, and it isn’t very pleasant. It itches my face, I have marks on my nose, but I have to wear it. You have to wear it. There is nothing else you can do.”

• 

• 

Biggest struggle during this time

IN TEARS, Zuleima told me how one night a patient needed a ventilator, a young man who seemed to be in his 20’s. It was during the pick of Covid back in March or April. They were running out of ventilators, and the only way possible for them to give this patient a vent was because somebody else had died. Still, in tears, Zuleima said that “If that other guy had not died, the young man would have died because we did not have any more vents that night.  This is still going on now and is going to get worse. Hopefully, it won’t get worse, but it definitely will because people are tired of Covid. There was this other patient the other night who was hospitalized with some of his family members because they did not follow social distancing and the no gatherings policy. People are not listening, and this makes me very angry.”

Change in the relationship with her family and friends

She hasn’t seen her friends since March. The pandemic has also weighted her relationship with her boyfriend because, like everybody else, he wants to go out, but she knows that it is not a good idea. With her parents, the relationship has not changed that much. They are more cautious and try not to see many people. However, there is always in the back of her head the likelihood to bring the disease back to her family, and that feeling does not go away.

Media Coverage

She says that “the media does pretty well of covering everything. Some people say that they are making stuff up and trying to instill fear in you. But I think the media does pretty well covering what is going on. Especially during March, April, and part of May, which were the worst months in New York, they highlighted how short we were in PPE and everything. We really were going through that shortage. I think that overall, the media does a good job.”