SAN ANTONIO – There are approximately 35 military medical nurses currently serving at five San Antonio hospitals.
U.S. Army Capt. Mieke Carifee is a registered nurse and has been helping at Baptist Medical Center in downtown for about two weeks.
“I was stationed here originally, and my unit from Fort Carson was requested through FEMA to come and support the state of Texas. And so we were brought in to help support the local hospitals,” Carifee said.
Carifee is working in the intensive care unit.
“So here at the hospitals, it’s -- we’re very busy -- a lot of sick patients, having to do a lot of overflow into other units to help make room for patients because we’re having a higher uptake in the number of really sick patients,” Carifee said.
Baptist Medical Center in downtown has five military nurses helping in the intensive care unit.
“We are normally a 30-bed ICU. And very quickly, because of the COVID influx, we flexed up to 48 beds. Without having (the extra nurses) as additional help to help supplement that -- that sudden growth spurt -- we wouldn’t be able to do the things that we need to do,” said Connie Thigpen, a registered nurse and ICU director at Baptist Medical Center.
Thigpen said they have had a lot of COVID-19-related deaths, and it’s starting to wear on the staff.
“These patients aren’t going to -- many of them aren’t going to see their family. So you become their family while they’re your patient,” Thigpen said.
Carifee said she doesn’t know how long she will be in San Antonio, but she wants everyone to take precautions to stop the spread of COVID-19.
“We’re here to help the community. We want everyone to also participate so that, you know, it may not be your family member, but someone else could get sick, and then your whole world changes,” Carifee said.
Besides the military nurses who have come to help, Baptist Health System expects 75 additional nurses to arrive this week.