Valley mom on the frontlines of COVID-19: ‘This is where they need me’
May 10, 2020, 4:35 AM | Updated: 6:56 pm
Veronica Avila, second from left. (Photo courtesy of Veronica Avila)
(Photo courtesy of Veronica Avila)
PHOENIX — Veronica Avila is among the mothers on the front lines battling the coronavirus in Arizona.
She’s a nurse at Banner Baywood Medical Center in Mesa, treating patients on the hospital’s COVID-19 unit. Her first shift there was in March.
Even though she had the chance to relocate to another unit, she chose to stay.
“From that day on I thought, ‘I’m staying here. This is where I need to be. This is where they need me,’” she said.
Avila works 12-hour shifts three days a week. She’s constantly wearing personal protective equipment. She described having to “fully gown up from head to toe” every time she goes inside the room of a patient with COVID-19.
She said although it’s very tiring, she does it meticulously every time because she knows “with one slip up, you can potentially infect yourself.”
And with three kids and her 69-year-old mother living with her, the last thing she wants to happen is to get infected and bring the disease home.
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“What I’ve noticed is not only am I concerned for their safety, they’re concerned for their own safety too,” Avila said, referring to her family. “They’re afraid when I come home that I’m going to infect the whole household.”
To avoid that, she follows strict sanitation protocols she set for herself. They include carrying disinfectants in her car, leaving her shoes outside, and changing out of her clothes and showering when she gets home.
Avila said she’s protective of her family but is also trying to do her job as a nurse.
“I signed up for this,” she said. “I do it out of enjoyment of the career. But at the same time, I have compassion for people who need our help in our community.”
“If I don’t step and I don’t do it, then I don’t know who else will,” she added.
The word “hero” has been used often to describe health care workers during the coronavirus pandemic.
Avila said it’s “very humbling” when she hears that. However, she said there are days when patients are put on ventilators or die from the coronavirus that make her question if she’s a hero.
“It’s just so emotionally tiring,” she said. “But with the community’s support, it helps you realize that you are needed and your role is very necessary. That helps you keep going.”
