Erin was the first ICU nurse to care for a COVID-19 patient at Baptist Health Paducah. Erin has been a part of the special pathogens team at the hospital since 2014 and volunteered to treat COVID-19 patients. Because of this, she self-isolated from her family and lived in the basement of her home while her husband and children lived upstairs. She even missed getting to participate in planning her son's birthday party.
Dr. K, Critical Care Pulmonologist, nominated Erin and worked with her in providing care to this patient. Erin provided exemplary care to this patient throughout the most critical moments of their life.
"Erin had excellent perception of a significant clinical change in another one of our early COVID-19 patients, which required a difficult intubation and initiation of ventilator care. She efficiently contacted all parties involved, collected all equipment needed, and thus coordinated a very complex and potentially risky process, which we completed in in textbook manner. Her attention to detail prevented multiple potential process failures at a time when we had little experience with providing this level of care to COVID-19 patients."
This patient survived COVID to be discharged from the hospital. We are thankful for nurses like Erin who made great sacrifices to provide the very best care to her patients.