Valley healthcare workers continue to battle COVID-19 on the frontlines

This pandemic has taken a toll on everyone, but we can't forget about the healthcare workers who see the worst of the pandemic and continue to return to work every day to help fight COVID-19. 

"When you see on the national news these people who are just ready to give up and are so overwhelmed they go to sit in their car and cry... we're there," said Charlotte Matash, RN, BSN, Director of Med/ Surg, Trumbull Regional Medical Center.

Healthcare workers continue to work long hours and holidays to care for patients on their worst days.

"This has been the most exhausting thing I've ever done in my life," said Brittany Zubick, RN, Mercy Health St. Elizabeth's Boardman. "But also, we would never stop doing it because these patients need us."

With COVID-19 patients not seeing their loved ones, healthcare workers say they step into the duty of caring for patients like they're family.

"I've held somebody's hand as they took their last breath, and they couldn't have family members there," Zubick said.

"We're staying with every patient at that point in the progression and making sure they have somebody by their side in that process," said Missie Herman, RN, BSN, CNM, Director of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Services, Trumbull Regional Medical Center. 

Nurses say this pandemic is something they've never seen before but continue to work tirelessly to treat those with COVID-19.

"Literally, you have a nurse being the housekeeper, the dietary person, the nurse, and the family," Matash said.

21 News caught up with a nurse we spoke with back in September from Saint Elizabeth's in Boardman. She's seen more hospitalizations, but the passion for caring for patients is even stronger.

"People that are in the public that aren't in the frontlines need to understand they need to do everything they can to keep healthcare workers safe," said Meghan Beasley, RN, Mercy Health St. Elizabeth's Boardman. "So, we can do everything we can to take care of these patients."

"We became nurses because it's what we love to do," said Mindy Gagliardi, RN, Clinical Resource Manager, Trumbull Regional Medical Center. "We wouldn't change it for the world. It's our job. We love to take care of people."