Christmas in the ICU: Decorations, lights and many tears
Associated Press
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A nurse puts on rubber gloves before entering a COVID-19 patient's room in East Alabama Medical Center's intensive care unit Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. Doctors and nurses caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients are doing what they can to get through the holidays while neighbors and friends indulge in Christmas parades and tree lightings. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)PPE and signs denoting the patient's status hang on each door next in the seventh floor COVID-19 unit at East Alabama Medical Center Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. The medical center faces a new influx of COVID-19 patients as the pandemic intensifies. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)East Alabama Medical Center nurse Abby Smith works on a COVID-19 patient in the intensive care unit Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. The medical center faces a new influx of COVID-19 patients as the pandemic intensifies. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)Nurse Marilynn Waldon talks about her experiences treating COVID-19 patients at East Alabama Medical Center in the Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. Waldon had planned to retire this month but with the holidays approaching, she prayed and changed her mind. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)East Alabama Medical Center nurse Harvard Graham checks fluids for a COVID-19 patient in the intensive care unit Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. Just as in other places across the country, a surge in infections linked to Thanksgiving is now filling up beds at the hospital. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)Denise Culpepper, from left, takes a photo of Christopher and Caleb King near the Christmas tree Friday, Dec. 11, 2020, during Christmas in a Railroad Town festivities in downtown Opelika, Ala. Doctors and nurses caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients are doing what they can to get through the holidays while neighbors and friends indulge in Christmas parades and tree lightings. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)A crowd watches a performance Friday, Dec. 11, 2020, during Christmas in a Railroad Town festivities in downtown Opelika, Ala. Doctors and nurses caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients are doing what they can to get through the holidays while neighbors and friends indulge in Christmas parades and tree lightings. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)Linh and Van Dang take photos with their daughters Giovanna and Arianna as people walk down the street around them Friday, Dec. 11, 2020, during Christmas in a Railroad Town festivities in downtown Opelika, Ala. Doctors and nurses caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients are doing what they can to get through the holidays while neighbors and friends indulge in Christmas parades and tree lightings. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)Dr. Ricardo Maldonado, who leads the pandemic response team at East Alabama Medical Center, says that he will spend his Christmas Day working in the COVID-19 unit Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)Susan Randolph, a medical worker at East Alabama Medical Center, stretches in the hall of the intensive care unit Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. Doctors and nurses caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients are doing what they can to get through the holidays while neighbors and friends indulge in Christmas parades and tree lightings. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)The nurse's station is decorated for Christmas in the intensive care unit at East Alabama Medical Center Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. Doctors and nurses caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients are doing what they can to get through the holidays while neighbors and friends indulge in Christmas parades and tree lightings. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)Nurses and medical staff make their way through the seventh floor COVID-19 unit at East Alabama Medical Center Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. COVID-19 patients occupy most of the beds in ICU in addition to the non-critical patients on the seventh floor. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)Laura Grill, chief executive officer of East Alabama Medical Center, becomes emotional while speaking of COVID-19 patients and the medical staff tending to them Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. COVID-19 patients occupy most of the beds in ICU in addition to the non-critical patients on the seventh floor. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)Nurse Carla Fallin talks about her job treating COVID-19 patients in East Alabama Medical Center's intensive care unit Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. COVID-19 patients occupy most of the beds in ICU in addition to the non-critical patients on the seventh floor. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)East Alabama Medical Center nurse Harvard Graham enters a COVID-19 patient's room in the intensive care unit Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. COVID-19 patients occupy most of the beds in ICU in addition to the non-critical patients on the seventh floor. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)East Alabama Medical Center nurse Harvard Graham checks fluids for a COVID-19 patient in the intensive care unit Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. The medical center faces a new influx of COVID-19 patients as the pandemic intensifies. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)Nurse Jesse Phelps, left, works on a COVID-19 patient as a family member looks on at East Alabama Medical Center in the intensive care unit Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. The medical center faces a new influx of COVID-19 patients as the pandemic intensifies. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)Dr. Meshia Wallace, a pulmonary physician who works in critical care at East Alabama Medical Center, talks about her experiences treating COVID-19 patients Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. Amid so much suffering and after so many tears, any ray of brightness helps, even if its just a candy cane sticker on a ICU window, said Wallace. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)
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A nurse puts on rubber gloves before entering a COVID-19 patient's room in East Alabama Medical Center's intensive care unit Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. Doctors and nurses caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients are doing what they can to get through the holidays while neighbors and friends indulge in Christmas parades and tree lightings. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)
