FONTANA, Calif. — The first thing Marcial Reyes does at the beginning of each shift is suit up, doubling up on gloves and masks for extra protection.
“It’s not a requirement, but it’s highly recommended,” he said.
What You Need To Know
- Marcial Reyes is an emergency room nurse at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fontana. He knows all about COVID-19
- He has the unique perspective of both treating COVID-19 patients and being a survivor himself
- In March, he was admitted to his own hospital, where he spent 11 days on a ventilator
- As cases continue in their post-Thanksgiving surge, nurses like Reyes have been struggling to keep up
The second thing he does is say a little prayer.
“Thank you for giving me this new day, and thank you for the opportunity again to help those in need,” said Reyes.
Reyes is an emergency room nurse at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fontana. He knows all about COVID-19 — not only is he the first person COVID-19 patients see when they come to the hospital, but he is also a survivor himself.
Back in March, Reyes was working one of his shifts when he suddenly collapsed. He was admitted to his own hospital, where he spent 11 days on a ventilator. He was so sick that at one point, he thought his deceased relatives were visiting him.
“When I saw my mother and dad and my brother, the words I said in my dream were, ‘Are you guys taking me with you?’” he said.
They did not. He returned to work soon after recovering. His personal experience, he said, has given him a deeper understating of the severity of the disease.
“Having been sick has changed my perspective of what life is,” he said.
Since COVID-19, Reyes makes it a point to wake up early to “see the beauty of the sunrise.”
As COVID-19 cases continue in their post-Thanksgiving surge, nurses like Reyes have been struggling to keep up. Many of them are worn out, working 16 hour-shifts, sometimes seven days a week. The number of COVID-19 patients has nearly doubled at his hospital in recent weeks, with more coming in every day.
On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new stay-at-home order for areas where capacity at intensive care units falls below 15%. If hospitalization rates keep soaring, California’s nearly 40 million residents could all be under lockdown within weeks, possibly sooner.
The orders have already been met with pushback from restaurants other businesses, who argue the rules, were not grounded in scientific data. Reyes does not agree.
“It’s a shared responsibility," he said. “Everybody has to take one for the team.”