Diamond State Chapter Members are "All In" - Lis Cote

Lis Cote - thumbnail_IMG_0134  

Lis Cote, BSN, RN, PCCN

My name is Lis Cote, BSN, RN, PCCN. 2020 was a challenging year. I work on a Progressive Care Unit (PCU) at a small community hospital in Delaware. Our PCU was the designated COVID-19 unit from the very beginning of the pandemic. My team and I were at the bedside coordinating care for these patients, as many specialties were not allowed inside of the patients’ rooms. Patients were isolated to their rooms with the door shut in order to contain the virus. We limited exposure to so many others, but the nurses were still right there at the bedside treating the patients, reminding them to lay prone, and encouraging them to stay strong and to keep fighting.  We held their hands and wiped their tears when they asked us to tell their families that they loved them before being intubated. We knew that, for so many, those may be their last words. Our team set up video calls so that the patients could see their families, even just for brief conversations. These calls were their only view of the world outside of their hospital rooms.

We treated our patients knowing all too well of the risk of taking the virus home to our own families. Everyone on our team had a routine to protect their families. Changing before leaving the hospital, cleaning everything that we couldn’t throw in the washing machine, not hugging our family until we had showered, and some of our team even lived separately from their family for fear of infection. Even with all of this, we continued to show up each and every shift, often picking up extra. We knew that our team, our patients, and our community needed us. We held the hands of our patients when there was nothing else we could do. We shed a lot of tears.

I was so happy to hear that AACN’s 2021 theme was “All in”. I can tell you I am absolutely All in for my team, for without them I would not have made it through this last year.