From caring for COVID-19 patients to disinfecting hospital rooms to counseling victims of domestic abuse, medical workers are on the front lines of the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

As they work to help patients across the Bay Area, they're also trying to juggle their own health and safety — and that of their families.

Four medical workers share their stories here — stories of dedication, bravery, teamwork and an ability to adapt to the constantly changing demands of life under COVID-19.

Sheleka Carter responds to cases in the emergency room at Highland Hospital that involve domestic violence, sexual assault, or human trafficking. — Sheleka Carter responds to cases in the emergency room at Highland Hospital that involve domestic violence, sexual assault or human trafficking. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

Sheleka Carter, Highland Hospital

Sheleka Carter is a domestic violence advocate at Highland Hospital in Oakland, where she responds to cases in the emergency room that involve domestic violence, sexual assault or human trafficking.

Under the current public health crisis, Carter said she's seen a rise in domestic violence cases.

“There has been a spike in a lot of domestic violence cases that I'm noticing," she said. "A lot of women are coming in, specifically women."

On a typical day, she can spend up to six hours at the bedside of a patient in the emergency department. While many organizations have transitioned to virtual advocacy, she and her team continue in-person visits despite concerns for their health.

Carter said she tries to build a relationship with her patients, make them laugh and get their mind off of what's happened to them. Wearing a face mask to protect against the spread of COVID-19 has made it more difficult to build rapport with patients who have just experienced trauma, Carter said.

"Your face shows your emotions, your expressions," she said. "We have to wear masks. And so it changes the dynamic of the interaction and the intimacy and the compassion of the job as a whole."

But concern can go both ways, Carter said, recalling one woman who was referred to her recently because of a domestic violence situation.

“She was laying in the bed, and I was talking to her, and I had the mask on, and the masks when you wear them ... it makes you feel really hot. So I started sweating,” Carter recalled.

She could see the worry on the face of her patient.

“I mean, she had just gone through her worst day and she was looking at me with concern,” Carter said.

Carter continues to advocate not only for her patients but for her fellow health workers, taking on leadership roles within her union, Service Employees International Union Local 1021. During this time of increased challenges, "everybody's sort of in their trauma response, and I think I'm fighting right now," she said.

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Shane Ward is a medical-surgical nurse at Seton Medical Center in Daly City. Her department has transitioned to becoming strictly a COVID-19 unit. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

Shane Ward, Seton Medical Center

Shane Ward is a medical-surgical nurse at Seton Medical Center in Daly City, where she's often treating patients in critical condition.

After the state leased more than half of the beds at Seton to treat people with COVID-19, Ward's department transitioned to caring solely for those patients, many of whom need constant monitoring and care.

[pullquote size="medium" align="right" citation="Shane Ward, medical-surgical nurse, Seton Medical Center"]"It's just a lot of high stress waiting for the surge that you think is going to hit you any second. Then it doesn't. And they're like, oh, no, no, it's coming. It's coming the next day."[/pullquote]

"It's tough. I mean, I'm gonna go to work, I'm gonna do my job, we're gonna take care of the patients. We're all trained to do that," Ward said. "We've been doing it for years.”

Ward said she continuously worries about a potential surge in coronavirus cases and whether there's enough personal protective equipment (PPE) for hospital staff.

“It's just a lot of high stress waiting for the surge that you think is going to hit you any second," she said. "Then it doesn't. And they're like, oh, no, no, it's coming. It's coming the next day.”

In early April, nurses at Seton had rallied to protest what they said was insufficient supplies of protective masks and gowns at the hospital. Ward said she's dedicated to her work, but to do it well, needs to stay safe herself.

"A lot of people like me are considered technically a vulnerable population, or immunocompromised," Ward said. “You can't go into something ... if it's going to endanger yourself. Once you assess that it is [safe], then you go in and do everything that you possibly can to help save that life.”

From doctors and nurses to lab technicians and respiratory therapists, staff at the hospital have pulled together, Ward said. For example, if someone’s gown has come open, someone else will stop and help secure it, she said.

“Everybody's worried, everybody's stressed. We're just doing the best we can to look out for each other," Ward said. "We always work as a team, but this has really, really brought us together."

Derrick Boutte is an environmental services worker at Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he often cleans up to 15 hospital rooms a day. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

Derrick Boutte, Highland Hospital

Derrick Boutte has worked for 21 years in environmental services at Highland Hospital, where he's responsible for cleaning and sanitizing hospital rooms.

Over the past weeks and months, he and his team have been trying to properly sanitize for COVID-19, even though, he says, there's been scant guidance on how best to battle the virus. Doctors and nurses are passing along information as they receive it, but much remains unknown.

Boutte often cleans up to 15 rooms a day, taking 35 to 45 minutes each, depending on the type of risk factors.

[pullquote size="medium" align="right" citation="Derrick Boutte, environmental services worker, Highland Hospital"]"Knowing that you could potentially infect family members that you love and care about is, you know, it's a dreadful thought every day."[/pullquote]

He and his team are concerned, as many people are, about having the correct types of cleaning supplies and proper personal protective equipment for their job.

"Us as employees, we're just trying to understand how we're supposed to be prepped and prepared to actually do a job that eliminates infections being caused by the coronavirus," Boutte said. “Just knowing that any mistake you possibly do make, it can be vital. ... We want to always be for sure."

Yet he and many of his colleagues still show up to work, even if they are worried or scared. Boutte said of his colleagues, “They're so dedicated to doing their jobs and needing to provide for their families that they're putting their selves out there on the front line to make sure that we’re protecting this community.”

Every day when Boutte returns home from work, he sheds all of his clothes in the backyard and immediately showers, he said. He worries the most about his family, he said — for now, his daughters, who are home from college, are staying with their grandmother.

Boutte said that if his daughters were living with him, he would most likely be sleeping in his car.

“Knowing that my daughters were at home, I wouldn't even come home,” he said. "Knowing that you could potentially infect family members that you love and care about is, you know, it's a dreadful thought every day.”

Carolyn Benson is a nurse educator at Sutter Health's Palo Alto Medical Foundation, where she works closely with patients before, during, and after a major surgery. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

Carolyn Benson, Palo Alto Medical Foundation

Carolyn Benson is a registered nurse with Sutter Health's Palo Alto Medical Foundation. She is currently a nurse educator who works closely with patients to prepare them for every step of the surgery process — for her department, chest surgeries of the heart or lung or for cancer.

She spends hours talking with patients, getting to know them, their family and their friends, she said. Often for a serious operation, patients want their loved ones involved in the process, she said. But because of the coronavirus, many typical in-person visits have been shifted to video chats.

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The amount of surgeries has also declined during COVID-19, Benson said, primarily because of patient concerns about being exposed to the virus in the hospital.

“We had a lot of people put their surgeries on hold. Some were super elective, some had cancer,” she said. "They asked the surgeon, ‘Can I wait? I really don't want to go in. I don't want to go near a hospital.’ ”

As a cancer survivor herself, Benson said she feels for these patients.

"I knew how I felt going into my operation with my diagnosis of cancer," she said. "I wanted to go in as quick as possible to get it out."

Some patients were told that their surgeries could not wait, Benson said. When those patients asked whether they would be safe at the hospital or how many cases of COVID-19 were at the hospital, she could only reassure them that staff had put in place all necessary protocols to keep patients safe.

Recently, Benson said that her team was able to shift back to in-person post-operative visits, an important development because, “for heart patients, you almost have to look at them. You have to see the color of their skin."

"You have to look in their eyes," she added. "Eyes change after heart surgery. They look brighter.”

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