Heartbreaking photos show how frontline nurses treating COVID-19 patients live in the divide between home and the nightmare of the pandemic at work

Sarah Al-ArshaniAug 18, 2020, 12:03 IST

Nurse Susan Morales waves to David Feinour, a 71-year-old COVID-19 patient, at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Friday, July 10, 2020. "We still have emotions," said Morales who has been a nurse for 42 years. "The day you don't is the day you should get out of nursing. That's what I would tell my students."Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

Healthcare workers taking care of coronavirus patients are witnessing horrors in their hospitals and are also worried about how they could keep their own families safe.
The balance has caused some to experience emotional drainage and anxiety.
Here's what it looks like to be a coronavirus frontline health worker.

Healthcare workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic are under a lot of emotional and physical pressure while taking care of extremely ill patients, and are constantly concerned over the well-being of their own families as they work in highly contagious settings, the Associated Press reported.

Nurses in the coronavirus unit at St. Jude's Medical Center in Fullerton, California, treat patients through 12-hour shifts before going home and struggling to figure out how to not expose their families to the coronavirus.

Spencer Cushing rented his own apartment in April to protect his wife, 3-year-old James, and baby Walter from exposure to the virus.

With an indentation visible on his face, nurse Spencer Cushing, 29, leans on a desk briefly after assisting a COVID-19 patient at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. For the month of April, the Cushing family lived apart. Cushing spent his days and some of his nights at St. Jude's, as a nurse caring for "step-down" patients recovering from the most serious COVID-19 symptoms. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

His wife quit her part-time job also as a nurse to take care of their kids. His three-year-old son began sleepwalking.

James Cushing, 3, pops out of a door to greet his father, Spencer, a 29-year-old nurse who works in St. Jude Medical Center's COVID-19 unit, in Orange, Calif., Monday, July 13, 2020. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

After a few months, the family decided it was best for him to go home.

Spencer Cushing, a 29-year-old nurse who works in St. Jude Medical Center's COVID-19 unit, helps his 3-year-old son, James, color animation characters in Orange, Calif., Monday, July 13, 2020, after working a 12-hour shift at the hospital. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

Health care workers don gloves, an N95 mask, a gown, a hairnet, and a face shield while caring for coronavirus patients to protect themselves from infection of the highly contagious virus.

Spencer Cushing, 29, tends to David Feinour, a 71-year-old COVID-19 patient, at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

Health care workers don gloves, an N95 mask, a gown, a hairnet, and a face shield while caring for coronavirus patients to protect themselves from infection of the highly contagious virus.

Other healthcare workers working with coronavirus patients have also said they were extremely worried about passing the virus on to their loved ones.

Nurse Sarvnaz Michel, 28, works on a computer while assisting a COVID-19 patient in a room with poster boards filled with family photos and get-well messages at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Friday, July 10, 2020. The 28-year-old's career has forced her to blur and blend her two lives. She agonizes over her every move in the hospital — "Did I put my gear on the right way, did I take it off the right way, did I touch something wrong accidentally?" — and locks her shoes in the car after her shifts. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

Sarvnaz Michel took six weeks of unpaid maternity leave to spend time with her newborn in February as the pandemic was beginning to accelerate in the US.

Sarvnaz Michel, a 28-year-old nurse who works in St. Jude Medical Center's COVID-19 unit, kisses her 6-month-old son, Arshan, while video chatting with her grandmother Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in Garden Grove, Calif. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

Michel's 2-year-old Leonidas knows not to hug her when she first gets home, and she's careful not to expose him to the reality of what she's experiencing.

Two hospital staff enter an elevator with the body of a COVID-19 victim on a gurney at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020 Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

While Jackie Vargas, a nurse for 11 years, feels safe in the hospital, she gets anxious around her family.

Nurse Jackie Vargas puts on her N95 mask using a plastic food container while getting ready to assist a COVID-19 patient at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. Vargas wears her glasses instead of contacts so she doesn't have to touch her eyes. She swaps her sneakers out for glittery black clogs so she doesn't have to handle shoelaces. She seals her N95 mask in a Tupperware-like container between patients so it's stored away from germs in the air. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

Watching patients battle the coronavirus alone is emotionally challenging.

Nurse Shamaine Santos disinfects her respirator using bleach wipes after tending to a COVID-19 patient at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. The pandemic rages on and cases climb throughout California, once again one of the nation's hot spots. The nurses forge ahead. They care for their patients during 12-hour shifts, taking temperatures and holding hands through gloves and wondering when, if, it will all end. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

Other healthcare workers previously told Insider that they were overworked.

Nurse Cindy Kelbert, left, checks on a critically ill COVID-19 patient through a glass door as she is surrounded by other nurses at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

On top of providing medical care, there's also the emotional burden of caring for critically ill patients.

Nurse Jackie Vargas, far right, watches as Dr. Michael Katz, second from left, performs a procedure on a critically ill COVID-19 patient with Juan Herrera, left, and Kevin Neal at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Tuesday, July 7, 2020. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

Michele Younkin had to watch her patient die after succumbing to the virus.

Nurse Michele Younkin, 28, takes off her personal protective equipment after assisting Antonio Navarro's family members visiting to say goodbye to the patient in his final moments in a COVID-19 unit at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif., Friday, July 31, 2020. Navarro was nurse Michel Younkin's first COVID-19 patient to pass on her watch. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

Younkin would comfort the man's wife as she saw him for the last time.

Romelia Navarro, right, is comforted by nurse Michele Younkin as she weeps while sitting at the bedside of her dying husband, Antonio, in St. Jude Medical Center's COVID-19 unit in Fullerton, Calif., Friday, July 31, 2020. Antonio was Younkin's first COVID-19 patient to pass on her watch. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

Younkin juggles the decisions she has to make as a mom with the pandemic, like whether its safe for her to breastfeed.

Michele Younkin, a 28-year-old nurse who works in a COVID-19 unit at St. Jude Medical Center, kisses her 7-month-old son, Jackson, in a park on her day off in Garden Grove, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

She's concerned that she could infect her family and urged her husband not to go to her funeral if she died.

Nurse Michele Younkin, left, feeds her 7-month-old son, Jackson, as husband, Cody, gives him a kiss in a park on her day off in Garden Grove, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

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Heartbreaking photos show how frontline nurses treating COVID-19 patients live in the divide between home and the nightmare of the pandemic at work

Spencer Cushing rented his own apartment in April to protect his wife, 3-year-old James, and baby Walter from exposure to the virus.

His wife quit her part-time job also as a nurse to take care of their kids. His three-year-old son began sleepwalking.

After a few months, the family decided it was best for him to go home.

Health care workers don gloves, an N95 mask, a gown, a hairnet, and a face shield while caring for coronavirus patients to protect themselves from infection of the highly contagious virus.

Other healthcare workers working with coronavirus patients have also said they were extremely worried about passing the virus on to their loved ones.

Sarvnaz Michel took six weeks of unpaid maternity leave to spend time with her newborn in February as the pandemic was beginning to accelerate in the US.

Michel's 2-year-old Leonidas knows not to hug her when she first gets home, and she's careful not to expose him to the reality of what she's experiencing.

While Jackie Vargas, a nurse for 11 years, feels safe in the hospital, she gets anxious around her family.

Watching patients battle the coronavirus alone is emotionally challenging.

Other healthcare workers previously told Insider that they were overworked.

On top of providing medical care, there's also the emotional burden of caring for critically ill patients.

Michele Younkin had to watch her patient die after succumbing to the virus.

Younkin would comfort the man's wife as she saw him for the last time.

Younkin juggles the decisions she has to make as a mom with the pandemic, like whether its safe for her to breastfeed.

She's concerned that she could infect her family and urged her husband not to go to her funeral if she died.