As our unit found itself in an enormous season of transition in the midst of this pandemic, we were asked to step up to the enormous challenge of becoming a dedicated COVID-19 unit. During this time, Charles would check in with everyone to see if their housekeeping had been done and he would go above and beyond and go into the rooms to mop floors, empty trash, and whatever else the PCA needed as well. When half our unit was on home quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure and our team morale was at an all-time low, he came in on his days off to drop off donuts and coffee. He would often make rounds of the rooms to check on nurses if they needed help or supplies and suit up in his PPE to come to our aid.
When our unit transitioned to a mixed COVID unit and one of the nurses would not be in the nurses' station for a while, he would intentionally check all the rooms that a nurse might be in to see if they needed help. In spite of staffing shortages, overwhelming patient assignments, and higher than usual patient acuity he showed up to work with positivity, wit, and hilarity. He helped our unit through what may have been some of the most difficult times we have collectively encountered in our lifetime as healthcare workers. Obviously, this type of caring for his co-workers also is extremely evident in his nursing care of patients. This was exemplified when he went to extreme lengths to help a COVID-19 positive patient who was hearing impaired. It can be assumed that inmates who come to the hospital have many obstacles and fears regarding their health care and what few possessions they are allowed in prison. With this thought in mind, they will often leave their possessions with a trusted fellow inmate for safekeeping. With this in mind, the patient left his hearing aids back in prison as to not be lost while in transport or during procedures. Consequently, this left the patient almost completely in the dark about what exactly was going on and making effective communication incredibly difficult when it came to his plan of care all while dealing with this formidable infection.
Charles made calls to see if it were possible to get the hearing aids to the patient while he was admitted. When this option turned out to be near a herculean feat, he continued to ask different resources and other nurses about alternatives and finally was able to secure a disposable sound amplification device. This timely intervention and his dogged determination to advocate and allocate for his patient made the ultimate difference when that patient found himself in a precarious situation that night. While walking to the bathroom he spontaneously developed a pneumothorax and an ERT was called as he became extremely diaphoretic and hypoxic. Imagine how much more terrifying that would have been had he not been able to hear or understand what was going on. Imagine the utter fear and deafening isolation that would have been his, had Charles not took the extra time and effort to find his patient that small but mighty device.