Linda Smales: Protecting the people who are protecting us
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Being a nurse isn’t easy. It’s not enough to master the clinical knowledge required; nurses also have to be adaptable, empathetic and most of all compassionate.
As a professor of nursing, I have always stressed to my students that they need to master all of these skills to be a well-rounded nursing professional, but in recent weeks, I’ve been thinking more and more about how nurses also have to be brave.
I can’t stop worrying about the covid-19 pandemic because I understand better than most how serious it will be, and how many people will suffer. I fear for the patients, but I also fear for my friends and colleagues on the frontlines who are bravely doing what needs to be done to save lives, often without the protective gear they need to keep themselves healthy.
As a nurse who is also the daughter of immigrants, I am especially worried about the displays of xenophobia that have arisen during this crisis. Asian Americans have been specifically targeted in recent weeks, and the virus is scary enough without having to worry that my friends and family will be attacked. This virus is vicious, mean, unfair and out there to kill. It does not care who it infects, and I wish people would focus their energy on the real problem, instead of trying to spread fear and hate.
We are all in this together, every single one of us. In order to get through this, we have to work together as a team, and if there’s one thing nurses understand, it’s how to work as a team. Every day, nurses work with doctors, pharmacists, medical assistants and families to give our patients the care they need.
This is an all-hands-on-deck situation, and immigrants are on the frontlines of this crisis. Immigrants make up 25% of America’s health care workers, including 27,000 “Dreamers” who work in health care. There are currently thousands of immigrant doctors sitting on the sidelines because the government hasn’t been able to process changes in their visas.
In times like these, we can’t afford to let bureaucratic red tape prevent anyone from helping. We also can’t afford to exclude immigrant workers and families from accessing testing and treatment. The virus doesn’t discriminate.
My heart has grown heavier with each passing day during this crisis, but recently I hit a point where I had to turn my anxieties into action. I am fortunate enough to be able to work remotely, but I had such a horrendous feeling of guilt and helplessness that I was no longer on the frontlines with my colleagues. I saw how scared my friends were, and I couldn’t just sit back and watch as they were put at risk due to a lack of protective gear. They all feared for their lives, but that didn’t stop them from showing up and doing what needed to be done.
I was talking about this with my sister, Thy, an entrepreneur who always amazes me with all the work she does behind the scenes to keep her business running smoothly, and we realized that we had an opportunity to rally our community to help the people on the frontlines fighting to keep us all safe. She has connections with nail salons owned by members of the Pittsburgh Vietnamese community, and they have supplies like gloves and masks that are so desperately needed by our frontline healthcare workers.
Thy began reaching out to her business contacts, and I started reaching out to contacts in the health care field to find out who was in need of this protective equipment. The outpouring of support and love from the Pittsburgh Vietnamese community has been nothing short of phenomenal. So far, we have collected approximately 30,000 masks, 245,000 gloves, and around 150 bottles of hand sanitizer and soap from more than 20 salons We have donated supplies to more than 20 health care facilities, and we are just getting started.
My sister and I are lucky to have amazing parents who raised us to look out for the people around us. For as long as we can remember, our mother has been talking about the importance of good deeds, or “lam phuoc,” and looking out for those around us.
We will all need to work together and look out for one another to get through this crisis. My sister and I are proud to be able to play our small role in this fight to save as many lives as possible. We will come through this, but in the meantime please, do your part to protect the people protecting us by staying home, maintaining social distance, and washing your hands.
Linda Smales is a professor of nursing at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. Her sister, Thy Chan Gallagher, is the owner of Tan Lac Vien Vietnamese Bistro in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. To learn more or help in their efforts to protect Pittsburgh’s health care workers, go to facebook.com/TLCProjectPittsburgh.