Nurse tells TV crews she’s quitting due to Covid ‘compassion fatigue’: ‘I’ve given so much I can’t keep going’
An ICU nurse in Mississippi says she no longer has the strength to treat unvaccinated Covid-19 patients after a tenfold spike of cases linked to the Delta variant has overwhelmed hospitals.
Jen Sartin, a nurse at Singing River Health System in Ocean Springs, told MSNBC she had requested a transfer as “compassion fatigue” sets in among hospital staff at people who refuse to get vaccinated.
“Honestly, I’ve given so much I can’t keep going. That’s why I decided to move to a different department, because it’s affected me in ways that I never thought possible,” Ms Sartin said.
“And it is not going to get better, and I have to protect myself and my family and my sanity. Because if, you know people aren’t doing what they need to do to protect us, and you know, we’re human. We’re not robots. We’re not machines. We can’t continue to do this forever at this capacity.”
Ms Sartin pleaded with people to do their part to help medical staff by getting the vaccine and wearing a mask.
“It’s just so mentally straining that people are choosing not to do that,” she said.
“We have a solution by getting the vaccine and wearing our masks and doing what we need to do.
“We’re tired. Nurses are so tired. It’s getting to the point where we need help. We’ve been helping as much as we can and we need help from our community.”
Mississippi is heading towards a record number of hospitalisations, with the state health department reporting 1,410 Covid-confirmed inpatients on Monday.
University of Mississippi Medical Center Associate Vice Chancellor for Clinical Affairs Dr. Alan Jones has warned the system was on the brink of collapse.
“Within the next five to seven to 10 days, I think we’re going to see failure of the hospital system in Mississippi.”
Cases have spiked tenfold in recent weeks fuelled by the Delta variant.
Mississippi has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with just 35 per cent of residents being fully vaccinated, compared to more than 50 per cent nationwide.
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