RALEIGH, N.C. — It's Stefanie Pescatore's eighth day in a row working 12-hour shifts.
What You Need To Know
With last spring's declining case numbers and COVID-19 vaccines hitting the market, it felt like the end of the pandemic was in sight
In April, at UNC Rex Hospital's ICU, healthcare workers felt optimistic for the future
Now, it's a much different story
"We've done everything we can. We're doing everything we can. And sometimes everything you can do is not enough," Pescatore said.
The respiratory therapist graduated from Durham Tech last year, jumping headfirst into the demands of the pandemic.
"The max I used to work was like five days when COVID peaked before. And now, it's just getting out of control," she said.
One of her patients is an English teacher who is 56 years old.
"She's very young. She is like my parent's age, and it's very hard to see," Pescatore said.
Pescatore says patients in this ICU keep getting younger and younger. One patient was 24.
"He was my age, and that's really scary to think about it," she said.
Everyone at the ICU is intubated, meaning they need a ventilator to breathe. They're also unvaccinated.
She's had a patient tell her they wish they got vaccinated.
"Unfortunately it was already too late. She was infected with COVID," Pescatore said.
Pescatore helps patients breathe by turning them on their belly in what's called "proning."
Most patients are on the highest oxygen level possible with a ventilator at 100%. That much oxygen can also be hard on the body, and their organs can fail.
"A lot of patients when they come in and get to the point when they need a breathing tube, they get really upset and they're like, please don't let me die," she said.
After a patient passes away, Pescatore says their bed can be occupied within two hours. She and other health care workers don't have time to mourn.
"We go home and we just think about the day, and it's very upsetting to all of us," Pescatore said.
With a jab of the vaccine, Pescatore knows the outcome could have been different.
"Just take it," she said. "And maybe we can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel for these health care workers that are getting burned out."
After a COVID-19 patient is in the ICU for 21 days, they are considered no longer infectious and the state no longer categorizes them as a "COVID-19" patient.
However, Rex Hospital says these patients are often the most sick and take up the most resources because they need the highest level of care. They often stay in the hospital for several weeks.