As COVID-19 surges, New Orleans nurses arrive in KC to help staff at Research Medical
A group of nurses from New Orleans arrived Friday in Kansas City to support staff at Research Medical Center as COVID-19 cases in the metro soar.
Earlier in the pandemic, Kansas City nurses from HCA Midwest Health traveled to New Orleans to care for the virus patients that filled four floors at Tulane Medical Center. The volunteer nurses arrived in waves for about two months starting in late March.
“You’ve never experienced anything like it before — how sick the patients were,” said Darlene Nilsen, a nurse at Tulane Medical Center. “We’ve never, ever seen our hospital just overwhelmed with so much sickness.
“When the Kansas City nurses came in with us from HCA facilities, they just gave us extra energy and so much extra support to us, it was amazing.”
With more than 1,100 new cases on Friday, the Kansas City metro’s seven-day average for new cases hit a record high. Nine new deaths were also reported.
Public health directors from across the metro area urged elected officials to close restaurants early and limit group gatherings. New restrictions will likely be announced next week, according to Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas.
The nurses from Tulane will spend one to two weeks in Kansas City before the next group arrives. Officials said they may need the extra help for a couple of months.
“The nurses coming from Tulane Medical Center wanted to pay it forward,” said Research Medical Center’s CEO Ashley McClennan.
Friday marked eight months of caring for COVID-19 patients at Research Medical Center.
The hospital’s chief medical officer Olevia Pitts said the challenge is not beds, but staffing.
“That’s where these nurses help,” Pitts said. “Not only for the COVID patients because our COVID patients are high, sure, but other people are sick too.”
The first group of six nurses arrived at the hospital on Friday evening. Holding signs that read, “Welcome Tulane RN’s,” masked medical workers from HCA Midwest Health greeted the volunteer nurses, cheering and giving them elbow bumps.
The Tulane nurses will begin working Saturday alongside staff at Research Medical Center, said Christine Hamele, a spokeswoman for HCA Midwest Health.
“We’re preparing for the continuing surge, but hoping for the best,” she said.
This story was originally published November 13, 2020 at 7:51 PM.