DAYTON — This week marks National Nurse’s Week during a time when many nurses are experiencing exhaustion and burnout.
“Nurses are phenomenal,” Miami Valley Hospital’s Chief Nursing Officer, Christie Gray. “They come to work every day to take good care of the people they come in contact with. That’s their whole goal.”
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News Center 7′s Mike Campbell sat down with Gray to talk about how things are going and what things will look like going forward.
Gray, who oversees Miami Valley’s nurses, lost her husband unexpectedly in early 2019 and became a single mom to her daughter, Avery. That same year brought turmoil for Dayton with the Oregon District Shooting and Memorial Day Tornadoes.
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No one could prepare Gray or the other nurses for what 2020 would bring — COVID-19 and everything that came with it.
“Everyone’s life changed and the biggest concern was around how could we support the team who was taking care of those patients,” Gray said. “And the fear that the team had to take care of those patients because it was something that was not familiar to any of us and we were learning as we were going.
Gray said nurses have a lot of grit, and “we all have added roles that we didn’t expect.”
Cox Media Group