As a country and community, we have been battling COVID-19 for more than a year and a half. We have seen more than half a million Americans lose their lives to this deadly illness during that time. Nearly 14,000 of those deaths have been within the state of Tennessee, and more than 2,000 here within our region. That’s 2,000 husbands, wives, fathers, sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, and mothers whose lives were cut short by this unrelenting disease.

I’ve witnessed the devastation that COVID-19 has created both as a healthcare provider and as a daughter who was left behind when it robbed me of my own mother last fall. I’ve seen the exhaustion and fatigue that weighs on our nurses, physicians, respiratory therapists (RTs), and ancillary staff as they continue to work around the clock to care for patients who present to our hospital in mass quantities. I see and feel the overwhelming stress of our hospital administration as they struggle to find space while continuing to provide our teams with the support, equipment, and the too-brief rest they need to keep caring for these patients.

The Delta variant is here. And it’s shown to be twice as contagious as prior strains while causing more severe illness in those who haven’t been vaccinated. I don’t need an official report to tell me this, however. The hundreds of nurses, physicians, RTs, and administrators who work in our local hospitals don’t need researchers and agencies to tell them this. We see it every day when we go to work. We see it as we work daily to convert different areas of our hospitals into makeshift ICUs to handle the sheer number of patients affected by yet another surge. We see it as we count the number of ventilators and determine how many we’ll have to order to handle the projected patient volume by next week. We see it as we watch our pediatric population be affected in a way they’ve never been before, and we watch in horror and distress as our pediatric ICUs now begin to fill up as well.

I promise you: We are doing everything we possibly can. I pray no one reading this will ever experience what it’s like to FaceTime with your family before they’re placed on a ventilator while the nurse holds their hand and whispers any words of comfort they can offer. I especially pray no one reading this will ever be the one whose hand our nurses hold. But I promise you that if you are, our nurses and team will give everything they have to save your life and get you back home to your loved ones. They’ve been doing it for much longer than they should have been. And although they are exhausted beyond belief, their compassion and dedication have never wavered.

And now, I’m asking you to help them.

Please consider:

Vaccines continue to reduce a person’s risk of contracting the virus that causes COVID-19, including the Delta variant. Some fully vaccinated people can still become infected and experience illness; however, these individuals are much less likely to suffer severe disease or death. For more information on how the COVID-19 vaccine works, read COVID-19 vaccine: Science and myths – FNPWrite.com.

Many area pharmacies offer the vaccine. For a complete list, please visit www.vaccines.gov.

As we continue to build the level of vaccination nationwide, we must also use the other available prevention strategies, including physical distancing and masking indoors in public places.  

We will never stop the COVID-19 pandemic until we all work together and defeat this virus once and for all.

As always, speak with your healthcare provider about your available options before making any decisions to ensure you’re making the right choice for you!