Buffalo Township nurse on working in 'Covid Country': 'You try to save patients, one after another' - TribLIVE

Denise Skradski could have just stayed at home and waited until hospitals resumed elective surgeries before returning to work.

Instead, the nursing independent contractor signed on for a two-week stint at a New Jersey hospital she said became known as “Covid Country” to many of its staffers.

“I was sitting at home watching the struggle of health care providers, and I knew I had an important skill,” said Skradski, 47, of Buffalo Township, a wife and mother of two.

Skradski had spent about a decade working as a nurse anesthetist at Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison before opting to become an independent contractor in March, just before the number of covid-19 cases exploded.

She said she began receiving calls daily from recruiters trying to find nurses for facilities in New York, New Jersey and other places that had become hot spots for the coronavirus. She chose to go to Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, N.J., near the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States.

When she arrived there last month, she found a scene that was alarmingly different than Allegheny Valley Hospital, where she had typically prepped patients for surgery. In the latter job, she said she could hold conversations with patients who she expected to have good outcomes.

At Palisades most days, she said she didn’t have time for lunch during grueling 12-hour shifts in which she intubated one severely ill covid-19 patient after another.

“Oh my god, do I miss surgeons. I would have paid to have someone take out a gallbladder,” Skradski said of the work in New Jersey.

She said most patients she encountered needed to be intubated immediately. They were rarely conscious.

“They needed very little sedation,” she said. “They were completely worn out.”

She estimated about 70% of her patients died.

“You try to save patients, one after another,” Skradski said. “You do your best.”

Skradski described Palisades as a small, community hospital similar to Allegheny Valley Hospital that was “transformed overnight into a level-one trauma center like UPMC Presbyterian hospital.”

Palisades converted many of its regular medical units into intensive care units, she said.

“The difference is the hospital has been ravaged by the disease, and about 90% of the staff working there now is from out of state,” Skradski said.

Skradski, who has been self-quarantining since returning home last weekend, doesn’t regret putting herself in harm’s way to try to help others.

“When you know you need to help somebody, you help them and just keep going,” she said. “I love what I do.”

The hardest part for her was watching people die alone.

During her time at the New Jersey hospital, family members were prohibited from visiting but received one phone call a day to get a report on their loved one’s condition.

“If they got two calls a day,” Skradski said, “then something was not going well.”

Skradski said she is considering returning to New Jersey after at least a few weeks if nurses are still needed. But until then, she plans to stay at home, eat ice cream and enjoy the down time with her family.

Mary Ann Thomas is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Mary at 724-226-4691, mthomas@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Categories: Local | Valley News Dispatch