Normally, Liz Ozminkowski spends her days with patients in the transplant unit, but her life drastically changed with the onset of the pandemic.
With so much conflicting information circulating amongst the media regarding coronavirus, Ozminkowski willingly placed herself among those infected “to see what it was about.”
Before the pandemic, Ozminkowski was in the St. Luke’s Hospital transplant unit since 2013. She was responsible for overseeing patients as they recovered from transplant surgeries. She said it’s extremely important the patients are constantly checked on to ensure their bodies are adapting to the changes.
“Being in the transplant unit, I felt sheltered,” she said. Transplant patients are often in an immunocompromised condition so COVID-19 patients are not placed on the transplant floor, where Ozminkowski worked.
In the transplant unit, Ozminkowski was in constant contact with her patients to ensure a steady recovery. Patients can suffer from minor complications to problems like total rejection of a transplant because the transplanted organ is a foreign part inside their body. Constant contact with patients is not the case in the COVID-19 unit.
Healthcare providers, such as Ozminkowski, usually do not go into patients’ rooms unless absolutely necessary. If they do have to, they wear full personal protective equipment.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19 seems to be spreading easily and sustainably in the community. The CDC recommends social distancing and wearing face masks in public settings.
With the presence of a new realm of controversial conversation coupled with so much more to discover about the coronavirus, people struggle to decipher truth from opinion. When asked if she could debunk any information regarding COVID-19 circulating in the media Ozminkowski stated, “the idea that the less people are tested, the less cases there will be.”
While she does agree that the math adds up, from her perspective it’s important to be tested so someone who is positive for COVID-19 is not put on the wrong hospital floor, alongside the critically ill patients who can’t be exposed to such diseases.
She also countered the idea that COVID-19 only affects old people, saying she has seen young, healthy people die too.
When asked her perspective on whether or not the media is accurately portraying the pandemic, she replied that the media “blew it out of proportion too quickly” and focused on the “juicy story instead of the facts,” causing people to lose interest.
“Wear your mask,” Ozminkowski said as precautionary advice to avoid ending up in the COVID-19 unit where she works.
With a lot of different information floating around, it’s important for people to be educated on preventative measures. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services offers information regarding COVID-19 here. The CDC guidelines can be found here.
Liz is one of the many health care professionals putting themselves on the line to keep their communities safe.