Andrew Artiles, a patient transporter, joined the ‘Proning Team,’ a group of staff from many different departments who worked to reposition patients with COVID-19. Proning has proven to help patients with COVID-19 increase the amount of oxygen that reaches their lungs. He shared how he felt about being a part of this unique team.
Members of the Community Medical Center team in Toms River have been tirelessly caring for patients, and one another, as they respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Throughout it all, they have responded with strength, skill, and compassion, and shown who they truly are – heroes.
Transcription
Initially, when the outbreak had happened, our department had slowed down and that allowed some of us to help out with some other departments in the hospital. We were able to help out with security; we were able to help out with environmental services, the command center. For me, I was fortunate to be able to have the opportunity to help out with the proning team to try and get better outcomes for the patients on ventilators. We tried our best to safely turn patients into the prone position for a period of time, and then turn them back into the supine position for another period of time and fortunately we did see positive outcomes with patients here at Community Medical Center, and I feel very fortunate that I was able to help out with that.