Nothing that Dani (Cichon) Stone ‘11 had experienced in her nursing career could have prepared her for what she saw working in the COVID-19 intensive care unit in Chicago this spring. Not even working in the COVID-19 ICU at Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital in Nashville for the previous couple of months. When Stone left for Chicago, the outbreak in Nashville had been mild, although Tennessee’s numbers are now rising. But the hospital where she served in Chicago was in the thick of the pandemic, with beds full and more patients dying than living.
“In the three weeks I was there, working in a 16-bed ICU unit, I saw two patients live,” Cichon said. “One of those who lived was a 45-year-old man who came into the hospital walking and talking, and was discharged to a skilled nursing facility with a tracheostomy.”
Read more about Stone's experience in the full article on our blog.