MEMPHIS, Tennessee — The past year has been a trying time for pretty much all of us and especially our frontline workers who battle against the coronavirus daily.
2020 marked one of the most challenging years for one nurse at Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital simply because she and others were battling against something they didn’t at first know a lot about.
When the vaccine became available to some groups it was a relief.
“Things are changing, information is changing, how we do things are changing,” said Brittany Jetton, a night nurse in the COVID unit. “So it was really a time for nurses to be very adaptive.”
Jetton said the most difficult days were making sure patients remained stable.
“Some of the most troubling times or difficult times would be when you have patients that aren’t doing well,” she said. “You have to really watch them. They could be doing fine and the next minute you go in to check on them, they’re not so fine.”
The nurse said she was grateful when the vaccine became available in December.
“I went one morning when I got off work so I wanted to have as much time during the day to rest and relax after I got my vaccine.”
Jetton had a typical response after taking the vaccine.
“That afternoon I had a normal immune response from getting a vaccine. I had a little bit of aches and pains, which I already had from working the night before. A slight fever. “
Jetton took a Tylenol and by the next morning was back to normal. She’s encouraging the general public to take the vaccine when it becomes available.
“I know a lot of people are afraid of a new vaccine, they’re mistrustful,” said Jetton. “I hope that by the time that most of the general public is able to be vaccinated that they’ve seen that healthcare workers are doing fine.”
Jetton will take her second dose this Saturday.