ABC6: ICU Nurse Says COVID-19 is Impacting Staff

As COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the state, the number of hospitalized patients continues rise as well.  And sick patients include caregivers, who are contracting it not at work, but out in the community.

ABC6 reporter Kalea Gunderson interviewed an OhioHealth associate who is battling the virus on the front lines.

"We almost thought that we are over the hump, and here we are back in the thick of it again," said Chris Cline, RN, an ICU nurse at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center who has been caring for COVID patients since the pandemic hit central Ohio. "In general, for the third floor ICU, on a basic night evening shift, you’d want 18 to 20 nurses, and that’s just not the case anymore. There’s a hole that we have to fill. It’s really stretching us thin."

Cline wants people to know that COVID is very much affecting the people - and medical providers - of Ohio.

"I know the layperson doesn’t see it the way that we do, because we have to deal with it every night, and it’s really affecting our place of work, and our mental wellness, and physical wellness at work," Cline told ABC6. "Not only did it really affect a lot of those bigger cities, like Seattle, Chicago, and New York, when this initially started, but all of this is happening in Central Ohio. It’s happening in your backyard.”

His advice?  Do your part to help stop community spread.  Wear a mask, wash your hands and social distance.