Camille Orquera/Staff Writer
Steven Winnett always knew he was going to work in healthcare. But much like his fellow healthcare professionals around the world, the coronavirus pandemic became a nightmare many felt they would never wake up from.
The Miami-born anesthesiologist has been working in a New York City hospital since Mar. 2. On Mar. 7, Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for New York and Winnett found himself thrust into the thick of a debilitating pandemic.
The son of a hospital director and pharmacist, Winnett says much of his childhood was spent on the Jackson Health campus where he knew from a young age he would someday work in the medical field.
Growing up in Cooper City, FL, Winnett went on to get his Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Central Florida before moving back to Miami to work at the Jackson Health surgical intensive care unit. After a move to San Francisco, Winnett came to FIU to get his Doctor of Nursing Practice degree.
Winnett graduated from FIU in December 2019 with a DNP in anesthesiology and moved to New York on Mar. 1. Newly minted in his role at the hospital, Winnett quickly realized that his new job was not going to be under normal conditions.
“I initially was thinking, ‘I’m willing to do whatever it takes’, you know? I want to help…Then sh*t really started taking off,” said Winnett. “The operating room became an ICU and different areas of the hospital just got transformed into ICU’s left and right. That’s when I was like holy sh*t…is this ever gonna end?”
As cases across the United States increased every single day, New York City became the epicenter of the deadly virus. Hospitals and medical centers in all of the city’s boroughs found themselves facing a near-apocalyptic onslaught of coronavirus cases that began to flood hospitals. With limited personal protective equipment and medical equipment, healthcare professionals braced themselves as the worst was yet to come.
Winnett described what his unit’s day-to-day was like during the city’s peak in which nurses and doctors learned to adapt and save patients from the virus.
“From the beginning we were doing intubation teams, so as the patients were coming in we were intubating them and transporting them to different parts of the ICU. But then the hospital’s ICU got filled up and then we opened up the operating room which got converted into an ICU. We had patients on anesthesia machines and ventilators. Normally there’s only one patient in an operating room but we had two patients in the room,” said Winnett.
He spoke about the increased responsibility of his team as they were teaching nurses how to be ready with medications and ventilators while also acting as primary care nurses to their own critically ill patients in the ICU. During the hospital’s peak he saw an increased number of patients but not enough ICU staff which meant he had to take on more patients than ever before.
“As the peak continued there wasn’t really enough staff so we essentially became ICU nurses by taking care of patients ourselves. I had up to three patients. I never had three ICU patients in my life, in my career in Miami or San Francisco.”
The pandemic has affected millions of people globally but only recently has the discussion shifted to the impact the virus has and will have on healthcare professionals and their mental health.
Having witnessed some of the virus’ worst conditions in the ICU, Winnett noted how this will leave many healthcare workers “shook up” and changed from their experiences on the pandemic’s frontlines.
Winnett has found himself dealing with the stress and emotions from work in multiple ways. Last month, Rolling Stone featured Winnett and his friends’ website “All Day I Stream,” which compiles the live streams of different musicians every day and provides a Zoom link where people from all over can hang out and virtually party.
Speaking on his experience of making the website with his friends, Winnett said, “I think we’ll all look back on all the Zoom parties as hands down the best times we’ve had… Hopefully we can rally together and do it for the greater good and keep it going.”
While New York has claimed its number of cases peaked around Apr. 20, people in the U.S. have begun protesting government mandated “stay-at-home” orders as they grow anxious due to closed businesses and public meeting areas. Many of the protesters have been met with scrutiny as healthcare professionals and government officials urge everyone to remain at home and to continue taking precautions.
“I can understand where they’re coming from but at the same time, we really don’t know too much about this virus and what if they just ruin all the progress we’ve been making?” Winnett said. “Maybe it is safe but all it takes is one person on a plane [to spread the virus].”
Regardless, Winnett has been able to witness the gradual decline of the virus and a drop in the number of cases. Grateful to have his job, his uncertainty has shifted from workplace stress to the question of what life will look like once this is all over.
“What’s life going to be like again? Will restaurants reopen? Are clubs gonna open? Are there gonna be opportunities to travel again? I mean I’m not sure… Once you forget about it, you don’t really prepare the same way. So who knows? I definitely don’t have that answer.”
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