'We are broken': Montana health care workers battle growing Covid outbreak
NBC News was granted rare access inside the ICU at St. Vincent hospital in Billings to show the pandemic’s devastating impact on rural areas.
BILLINGS, Mont. — It happened so fast, Joey Traywick missed it.
“I've been doing this for a long time” he said. “I know how much time I have.”
But not this time. Traywick, a 48-year-old registered nurse, had misjudged how acute his patient's illness was. By the time he returned to her room, she was gone.
She had died alone.
“And I thought, ‘I'm never going to let that happen again,’” Traywick said, choking back tears. “It snuck up on me, and it surprised me because it's so relentless. … I (no longer) miss it. If I have to stay late after working, if it means doing it on my day off. They're not going to pass alone on my unit. Again. None of them.”
Since then, Traywick said he’s personally held hands with 23 patients who have died.
“I never thought it would happen here,” he said. “I never thought we would be anywhere close to where we are now. ... I'm a good nurse — and the nurses I work with are good nurses — but we are broken.”
Health care workers are frustrated that many people are not following basic public health guidelines, such as wearing masks. This summer, Montana’s governor imposed a mask mandate, but it’s been difficult to enforce in many parts of the state.
As the winter and flu season takes hold, health care workers are most worried about staffing. What if they get sick? What if a relative gets sick, and they have to quarantine, keeping them at home for days? Will there be enough traveling nurses to go around as the virus surges simultaneously in several parts of the country?
“I would use the word ‘crisis,” absolutely,” said Michael Skehan, St. Vincent’s chief operating officer.
