News : Lillie and Carli hit the ground running in New Jersey

Well...I have good news and bad news... The good news is that I got to spend about 30 minutes today video conferencing with Vinton-Shellsburg High School seniors Lillie Lamont and Carli Lang about their first week working with Covid-19 patients in a New Jersey care facility. The bad news is that I apparently messed up the actual recording of the meeting, so instead of you actually getting to see them this time, I'll have to tell you about it...we'll get it right next time! To say Lillie and Carli hit the ground running would be an understatement.  "We went in our first day and thought we'd have orientation or something," Carli said, "but we walked in and went straight to work." "They assigned me eight Covid patients right away," Lillie said. "And they didn't give us a lot of instructions about it; we just did what we were told and asked questions." "They are very understaffed there," Carli added. "It's rough for them and for the patients because of it; they were pretty glad to see us." Being in New Jersey is definitely different than being in Iowa, as they felt and the diversity there has been an education. "We're pretty glad we both took Spanish in school," Carli said. "It's already come in handy." "We've both had patients who were speaking only Spanish," Lillie said, "and they really appreciated that we could respond to them that way." The center Lillie and Carli are working in would normally be a residential care and rehabilitation facility, but it's been divided up into different wings that includes everything between well patients to acutely ill Cover patients. "I've been working in a hall," Carli said, "where the patients tested positive but aren't showing any symptoms. "They're used to having a roommate, friends, people coming to visit them," Lillie added, "but in that ward they're alone and they can't have visitors; they feel fine, but they're alone and feel like they're being punished." The girls have been working in the well patient area, where personal protective equipment is not needed, along with the more acute areas. "In that hallway (with the sickest patients), you're in your mask and PPE the whole time," Lillie said. "You get really claustrophobic in there. In the well patient hall, you don't need PPE so it's not quite as bad." (We'll discuss the PPE situation more in our next conversation) After jumping around on their schedules, Lillie and Carli will be shifting to a four-day, 12-hour a day schedule next week. It's hectic and exhausting, but they're learning to adapt. "I put myself on auto pilot," Carli said. "It's constantly busy; you never see any of the staff sitting down. It's not like back in Vinton where there are slow times; we're just always moving." But today and tomorrow are days-off for Lillie and Carli. They've explored as far as the grocery store and Laundromat but hope to do a little more, what with being just across the river from the Manhattan skyline. "We did laundry, and we have homework to do," Carli said. "So we're still busy." "We might drive over to New York (City) tomorrow," Lillie said. "You can't really do anything there right now, but we can still look around." We'll be meeting with Lillie and Carli again next week, once they firm up their schedules and yours truly figures out to hit the recording button the right way.