Nursing

Finding a New Normal

NursingApril 23, 2021

Denver College of Nursing Nurse Profile: Richard Leach

Thirty years ago, the American Nurses Association established National Nurses Week to recognize the essential caregivers who selflessly serve their communities. Each year the celebration culminates on May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, who’s been widely recognized as the “mother of modern nursing.” The past year has tested the resolve and dedication of nurses and nursing students across the country as they served on the frontlines of COVID-19. This week we honor Denver College of Nursing graduates and students by sharing their stories.

Richard Leach is a military veteran and a Denver College of Nursing (DCN) alumni. While a student, he also served as president of the DCN Student Nursing Association. After graduating in March 2019, he began working on the telemetry floor at North Suburban Medical Center (NSMC) in Thornton, Colorado. Just one year later, due to the pandemic, his floor was converted into a COVID unit. He shares his story:

Working strictly with COVID patients became the new normal, while critically ill respiratory patients also remained on the unit because of limited resources in the ICU. This along with all the other COVID-related changes, which seemed to change every day, was certainly challenging for a still-pretty-new nurse. 

During the peak of the COVID-related ICU hospitalizations, NSMC implemented a team nursing concept in which telemetry nurses were paired with ICU nurses to provide additional resources so that the ICU nurses could care for four, and sometimes five, critically ill patients in the ICU. Post-anesthesia care units (PACUs) were converted into makeshift ICU overflows. Still, there were times that a patient who desperately needed to be in the critical care unit remained on the floor because there was simply nowhere for them to go.

Currently, the telemetry unit is slowly converting back to pre-COVID, although there is still a handful of COVID-19 patients on the floor. All in all, it has been a constantly changing situation with new developments and changes in practices. I am thankful to have been a middle of it all because it has offered tons of learning opportunities. 

It’s our honor to celebrate nurses like Richard, who fearlessly faced the circumstances the pandemic delivered and continue to offer the best care possible to patients. Congratulations on rising to the challenge and maintaining a great attitude. To learn more about the nursing programs at Fortis Colleges & Institutes, St. Paul’s School of Nursing and Denver College of Nursing, please click here