An Intimate Glimpse of Community Health Nursing During the Pandemic
Photo courtesy of Monica M. Finifrock.
We hear a lot about frontline nurses and the trauma they’ve endured throughout the year fighting the world’s deadliest pandemic in 100 years. Their stories are harrowing and heroic and shine a much deserved spotlight on the importance of the profession. And yet COVID-19 has touched not only those working in ICUs and EDs—but in every area of health care. Our December In the Community article, “Keeping Calm in the Buffer Zone,” is just one example of a nurse touched by COVID-19 in her daily work.
Community health as a ‘buffer zone.’
When the article opens, author Monica M. Finifrock is on her way to work at a community health clinic in Seattle. It’s April and the pandemic is beginning to take a toll.
I don’t consider myself on the front lines of the pandemic . . . I’m not watching patients take their last gasps of air or making hard decisions about who gets a ventilator and who doesn’t. I’m a community health nurse, and my role during the COVID-19 pandemic is to do exactly what I always strive to do—serve the community.
Calling her clinic a “buffer zone,” Finifrock argues that community health clinics […]