ST. LOUIS — Katie Horton has worked virtually from her home in Ballwin throughout the pandemic. But over the past two weeks, she has spent her weekends and evenings scrubbing patient rooms and assisting nurses caring for COVID-19 patients at Mercy South Hospital.
Horton, 49, is a talent selection manager for Mercy, helping hire all the nonclinical positions, such as food service, public safety and clerical, within the multistate hospital system.
Two weeks ago, she answered a plea from Mercy asking employees to leave office chairs and help front-line hospital workers overwhelmed and weakened by the new COVID-19 variant.
“It was eye-opening. I work from home. I’ve been very safe through it all, and that has certainly been a blessing,†she said. “I just felt like it was good to be able to see through the eyes of the person doing these jobs.â€
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In an effort to maintain patient care during a record-breaking surge of COVID-19 patients, health systems across Missouri are asking all employees to pick up shifts helping nurses by doing things like grabbing supplies or answering phones, or by filling absences in areas such housekeeping and patient transport.
“Hospital administrators are pushing wheelchairs, accountants are emptying trash cans and marketing professionals are serving meals — whatever it takes to make sure that our co-workers who provide hands-on patient care are able to focus on their patients,†said Steve Mackin, Mercy’s incoming president.
Whether they are called “Team 19†at CoxHealth in Springfield, Missouri, or “shared-service employees†at BJC HealthCare in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ area, hundreds of office and outpatient employees are switching roles and offering to work extra inside hospitals. Many do so after working their regular jobs, earning some extra pay.
In late December, the hyper-infectious omicron variant caused a sharp spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations, which peaked at the highest level in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ region on Jan. 17. The disease swept through staff just as quickly, causing large numbers to have to stay home while they cared for themselves or their family members.
It is a crushing blow to a workforce already severely strained by the nearly two-year-long pandemic.
Though COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have been trending lower in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ area for nearly two weeks, the number of patients and deaths remain near the highest levels in the pandemic.
“Our hospitals remain full, our emergency departments are full and there’s not a lot of room in our (intensive care units) either,†said Dr. Alex Garza, co-director of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force. “So, although this is improving, many of our staff continue to be out because of COVID or because they are taking care of a loved one or a child whose school has unfortunately closed because of COVID.â€
Misty Jones, vice president of operations for SSM Health ºüÀêÊÓƵ, said even nonclinical tasks, such taking a patient to get an X-ray or delivering meals, are being done by nurses and other front-line providers.
“If there’s not enough dining and nutrition staff, because patients have to eat, that work falls on nursing to make sure those trays get passed in a timely manner,†Jones said.
Worried about the physical and mental exhaustion among workers, leaders hope that others stepping up to help also boosts morale.
“This is the tide-turn at this point. They have struggled, but they have managed, but they can’t do this alone,†Jones said. “This is a show of force of the system leaning in and saying we are here to help you. We see you, we want to help. It is reaching out with empathy, being present with our front-line staff and saying you are not alone.â€
Chaos every shift
Lisa Nesler works at an outpatient infusion center at Mercy’s large Clayton-Clarkson clinic in Ballwin. She administers intravenous medications such as chemotherapy for cancer patients. She’s a registered nurse, but she hasn’t worked inside a hospital in 18 years, she said.
When she saw a request for help, Nesler, 54, of Chesterfield, said the need was too great to ignore. She didn’t expect to get assigned to help in the emergency department at Mercy ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, what did I just get myself into?’†Nesler said. “I think my heart rate was 150 when I was walking into that building.â€
When she arrived for her eight-hour shift at 7 a.m., the waiting room was packed. Patients had been waiting six to eight hours to get admitted to a room. Some were angry.
Her assignment was to draw blood from patients in triage, which she did the entire shift. “I stopped counting after 30,†she said. She was surprised what a great day it turned out to be.
“What really struck me was how kind and appreciative the staff were,†Nesler said. “I just left that day feeling so good, that I really helped the people that I went in to help.â€
Katie Kluesner, 25, of Washington, Missouri, was working in the emergency department that day. Kluesner has been an emergency room nurse for three years. During this latest surge, she ends up crying in her car after her shifts. Or she goes home and collapses in bed.
“We’ll have 40 or 50 people out there (waiting), and they just keep coming,†Kluesner said. “So, the triage process just keeps going, and we are constantly behind.â€
With Nesler’s help, Kluesner was able to put in orders for laboratory tests while she drew blood. That helped physicians see patients faster. It also helped to more quickly identify patients who were sicker and needed to move up in the line to see a doctor.
“You just know you are walking into complete chaos every shift, so having people help us do these little tasks really takes a load off,†Kluesner said.
Nesler also worked in a surgical trauma unit where she was able to feed, dress and bathe patients or help them take a walk. She spent most of her time with one confused patient who kept trying to get out of bed. Nesler brushed his teeth, combed his hair and shaved his face.
“All those little things take so much time,†she said. “It just made me feel really good to do those things for those patients, and help the staff do all those things they don’t always have time to do.â€
A Band-Aid
Jon Bray is a senior performance improvement consultant at BJC HealthCare’s Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He meets virtually or in-person with directors in different units, coaching them on everything from improving infection rates to how to communicate better with staff or work a new computer program.
Bray constantly reminds the directors of the hospital’s mission to provide world-class care. When the call came out to help the strained hospital system, “I thought, this is something I need to do,†he said.
Bray, 33, of ºüÀêÊÓƵ, has worked four four-hour shifts at Barnes-Jewish Hospital over the past few weeks, donning purple scrubs for employees in training, cleaning elevators and stairwells, wiping tables and taking out trash in the café.
“At first I thought, this is nothing, I’m just cleaning an elevator,†Bray said. But as he cleaned the floor of food wrappers, discarded masks and even spit, he realized how important the work was in making families feel comfortable.
“I would hate for a family member to come in and see this and think that that represents our hospital, because it doesn’t,†he said. “I know even more so now than before, how valuable the work is.â€
Lisa Witzel, 47, of south ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, works in the safety and quality department at SSM Health DePaul Hospital, reviewing reports and pouring over data. She took the job in July, leaving her career as an emergency room nurse.
Offering to assist in the emergency department allowed her to get back and help those she remains close through a tough time.
“I still feel for my people that are still in the middle of it,†Witzel said. “Anything I can do to help them out, even if it’s small, I know it’s helpful because I’ve been in their shoes.â€
Hospital leaders say they imagine the assistance programs will last about another month and gradually phase out as hospitalizations and staffing levels stabilize.
Carla Ashmead oversees the program for BJC HealthCare as the director of patient care and operations. She said it’s been a much-needed Band-Aid on a bleeding system.
Ashmead said, “Anytime that you can decrease the workload of the team, it’s definitely a morale booster. Is it perfect? No, but it does help make things better.â€
A tiny gesture
Horton, who left her virtual home office in Ballwin, started out working side-by-side with housekeeping workers at Mercy South in the evenings. They prepared rooms for new patients. Horton stripped linens, took out trash, mopped floors, disinfected every surface and restocked items.
Some wondered why she was there, if someone was making her do it. “No, I just heard you all need help, and I work a job where I’m able to come in the evening and help out,†Horton told them.
Another felt uneasy about making her mop floors, she said, but she insisted and asked them to show her if she wasn’t doing it right.
As one worker was ending her shift, she told the next co-worker starting, “This lady can help you. She’s really nice.â€
That made Horton feel like they knew she genuinely wanted to pitch in.
“Hopefully, they see people care and appreciate and understand how much they give of themselves each and every day,†she said.
Horton also worked eight hours on a Saturday and four on a Sunday assisting nurses in units with critically ill patients, many of whom had COVID-19.
When the nurses were inside a COVID-19 patient’s room, Horton would get them things they needed such as patient gowns or gloves, or even another nurse. That saved them from having to throw away personal protective equipment and don new ones each time they left and entered a room.
Horton answered patient call lights. She cleaned counters, restocked supplies and helped a transporter by carrying the personal items of a patient leaving in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank.
It was humbling, she said. She watched as nurses hugged family members of a patient who died. She watched them put off telling a patient her husband had died so she wouldn’t lose the will to live.
“Those are just two examples, and I just think how they do this day in and day out,†Horton said. “I was just in awe of their emotional, mental and physical tenacity, the armor that they probably wear daily to do their job, and the compassion.â€
Horton also cleaned their break room, wiping up coffee spills, organizing the condiments, throwing away trash and making the tables shine. It seemed like a tiny gesture, but maybe it would feel a little nicer the next time they had a moment to sit down.
A nurse later stopped Horton and asked if she was the one who had cleaned the room. “Oh my god, thank you!†the nurse told her.
“No, no, no,†Horton said. “Thank you for what you are doing day in and day out.â€
Originally posted at 12:15 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27.