Inside a California ICU: Health care workers cope with trauma, provide comfort to COVID patients
Harrison Hill, Sandy Hooper and Brian Munoz, USA TODAY
·2 min read
As the pandemic has ravaged the United States, frontline health care workers have remained resilient in helping the sick and dying. But it has taken a toll.
To prevent the virus from spreading further, families haven't been allowed to visit loved ones in the hospital. Medical workers across the United States — first responders, nurses, doctors, social and spiritual support specialists — have tried to bridge the gap by connecting families with phone and video calls.
USA TODAY’s Harrison Hill and Sandy Hooper take you into Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, California, a community in northwestern Los Angeles, as the hospital staff battle the pandemic.
While some of the following scenes may be difficult to witness, they show the harsh reality faced every day by health care workers across the country.
A registered nurse checks on a patient on the COVID floor at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 12, 2021.
Michelle Kilian, an ICU nurse at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, holds a patient's head after brushing and braiding their hair on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021, in Los Angeles. "We prone them so much that their just hair gets clumped up," Kilian said. "If I have some time I try to brush it so it doesn't become one tangled mess, because if that was my mom, that's what I would want them to do."
Etelvina Dominguez, 78, loved pro wrestling and tending to the family garden. “Vina,” as her family called her, was hospitalized with COVID-19 and put on life support. The day before her death, only her husband and eldest son could be there as the rest of the Dominguez family said their goodbyes over a video call.
Lorenzo Dominguez Jr., left, preps his father, Lorenzo Dominguez Sr., before visiting their matriarch, Etelvina Dominguez, 78, on Friday, Feb. 12, 2021, at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles. Due to COVID-19 protocols, the two were the only ones briefly allowed inside of the hospital to visit Etelvina.
Lorenzo Dominguez Jr., 54, prays for his mother, Etelvina Dominguez, during a visit to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 12, 2021. Dominguez and his father, Lorenzo Dominguez Sr., right, were the only family members allowed into the hospital. "The strength, Lord, give me the strength to get through this," Dominguez Jr. said as he got down on his knees. "Give my father the strength. That you send my mom on a peaceful journey. That you wait for her with open arms." Etelvina passed away the next day.
Members of the Dominguez family talk to Etelvina Dominguez, 78, via a smartphone on Friday, Feb. 12, 2021, at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, family visits are allowed only in special cases, but they can visit by video calls. Etelvina spent more than 30 days in the hospital battling COVID-19 and passed away a day after her eldest son and husband visited her.
While family members were largely not allowed to visit loved ones battling COVID-19 at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, some sent flowers, posters and other mementos to help patients feel closer to their families, like those pictured on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021.
Respiratory therapist Julie Medeiros, center, and intensive care nurses prepare to "prone" a patient on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021, at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles. ICU nurses prone, or flip, a patient on their stomach or back every two hours to allow better expansion of the lungs, ultimately leading to improved oxygenation of the blood. "We're doing this a lot," Medeiros says. "You need a number of people to help turn patients."
A patient lies on their stomach in the intensive care unit at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021.
A nurse cleans a patient's mouth in the intensive care unit on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021, at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles. "With COVID cases, some patients are not able to maintain their airways so they have to be intubated in order for them to stay alive," says Nino O, a travel nurse from Long Island, New York.
Travel nurse Thu Nguyen catches her breath inside the ICU unit at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. Nurses are required to wear PPE for hours at a time while working with patients, sometimes causing bruises or scars around their eyes and nose.
Dr. Marwa Kilani is a palliative care doctor at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center. Her specialization aims to provide “patients relief from pain and other symptoms of a serious illness, no matter the diagnosis or stage of disease,” according to the Mayo Clinic.
When things take a turn for the worst, Kilani is the one who has tough conversations with families on what they can expect and what the next steps are for their loved ones.
Dr. Marwa Kilani, a hospice and palliative medicine specialist at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, does a video call with a patient's daughter on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. She is responsible for updating families on her patients' conditions because no visitors are allowed during the pandemic. "It's traumatic to hear families on the other end, tearful and crying," Kilani said. "COVID is a whole different beast and we've had to jump in and move forward as best we can."
The sun beams across medical supplies in an intensive care room on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021, at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Chaplain Kevin Deegan is one of the hospital’s trained spiritual care providers who provide support regarding “the deeper spiritual meaning and understanding of suffering and sickness, health and wellness.” During the pandemic he has had to facilitate conversations with families over video calls, providing the best spiritual care he can while families navigate the situation from afar.
“This year for all of us has been a year of one thing after the next of all bad news, it feels like, but at the same time, there are those glimmers of hope,” Deegan said.
Chaplain Kevin Deegan spends his days checking on the health and well-being of patients and staff at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles. Chaplains "are well-integrated into the life of the hospital," Deegan said. "As a chaplain, it's my job to offer emotional and spiritual support, to be a compassionate presence, to be a supportive presence."
Chaplain Kevin Deegan prays with a patient on the COVID floor at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 12, 2021. "I never expected to become an expert in offering care during a pandemic," Deegan said. "I find myself becoming more vulnerable; I'm more compassionate."
Chaplain Kevin Deegan holds a patient's hand while praying with her on Friday, Feb. 12, 2021, on the COVID floor at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles. "I'll never be afraid of donning PPE to go and sit and hold the patient's hand, to brush their hair with my hand, to lay my hands on them and pray with them," Deegan said. "Fear is not a part of the care that I'm offering anymore."
Chaplain Kevin Deegan prays while inside the Providence Holy Cross Medical Center chapel on Friday, Feb. 12, 2021, in Los Angeles. "We're beyond a point of feeling like this is crazy, and this is beyond unprecedented," he said about the COVID-19 pandemic. A year into the pandemic, "as we look ahead, we see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine rolling out. But with these new strains, these new variants, it still feels like there's still a lot of dark days ahead."
Each day at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, Chaplin Kevin Deegan passes through a hallway filled with glass windows to get to the COVID unit, as he does pictured on Friday, Feb. 12, 2021. Outside the windows is a message thanking hospital staff for their work.
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