Brevard County nurses prepare to return home after traveling to Massachusetts to help with coronavirus surge

Nurses working in hospital dedicated to coronavirus care

ROCKLEDGE, Fla. – A group of Central Florida nurses are preparing to return home, after spending more than a month working in hardest hit hotspots for the coronavirus.

In April, News 6 introduced the initial 15 nurses from Rockledge Regional Medical Center who traveled north to work at Morton Hospital.

Morton Hospital is located in Taunton, a suburb of Boston. Both Morton Hospital and Rockledge Regional Medical Center are owned by Steward Health Care.

Kara Ehrhardt and Gena Gillespie are among the nurses who volunteered to make the trip.

"I think we’re still in good spirits, but we’re all hitting that wall of tired and missing home," Ehrhardt said.

“It’s scary,” Gillespie added. "I had a lady look up to me last night and ask me ‘am I going to die.’ You stop and you can’t assure and you can’t promise her but [you say,] ‘we’re doing everything. We’re okay.’ It’s hard, but it’s why we’re nurses. This virus is unique and unlike anything I’ve ever seen. "

Andy Romine is the president of Rockledge Regional Medical Center and spoke to News 6 in April about the decision to send the nurses up north.

“While we have seen COVID patients here in Brevard County, we have not seen them to the extent they’re seeing up in Boston,” he said. “If and when we do see a surge down here in Brevard, not only can we bring those nurses back, we’ll have the benefit of receiving nurses form the other part of the country as well.”

On a daily basis, the two watch firsthand the power and velocity COVID-19 can harness.

"It’s harrowing, I’m just so grateful Brevard County hasn’t been hit in the way they have up here," Ehrhardt said. "You’ll wear a double shield, double mask, gown gloves and you're in that gear the whole time with that patient."

The little moments in the middle of their 12 hours shifts keep the two going, not to mention the large surprises from their patients..

"[I had a patient who] was struggling with cancer, taking oral chemo and I didn’t think he was going to make it and I spent extra time with him," Gillespie detailed. "His next step was the intensive care unit and then probably gone. And he left the hospital, after almost a month, and he left. And that is something. It brought tears to my eyes. We stood in the hallway and gave him a standing ovation."

After working through Easter and the changing of the seasons, both Gillespie and Ehrhardt notice more moments of hope blossoming up, as they prepare to return home, and as they say they’re seeing the curve start to flatten.

“This one it feels real, it feels like we’re starting to see it wain a bit,” Ehrhardt said.


About the Author:

It has been an absolute pleasure for Clay LePard living and working in Orlando since he joined News 6 in July 2017. Previously, Clay worked at WNEP TV in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he brought viewers along to witness everything from unprecedented access to the Tobyhanna Army Depot to an interview with convicted double-murderer Hugo Selenski.

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