They have both been nurses for more than a decade, but they said the stress and uncertainty of the pandemic made them think about quitting

OMAHA, Neb. —
Amy Carlin and Ashley Carne work in general intensive care at Nebraska Medicine. They said their unit is packed with COVID-19 patients right now.

"Our unit fills in when numbers get too bad," Carne said. "So when you hear our unit is full of COVID-19 and we have however many med-surgical units taking COVID-19 that tells you how bad it is."

They said their care system is extremely efficient, but the number of patients so high has time to stop working.

"There's only so many hands available to help," Carlin said. "The nurses haven't eaten and it's 3 p.m. So it's like there's too many things going on. These patients are too sick."

They have both been nurses for more than a decade, but they said the stress and uncertainty of the pandemic made them think about quitting.

The death is just, it's never-ending," Carne said

"This is not normal nursing," Carlin said. "This is not normal."

But, they ask themselves, if they don't care for patients, who will?

"I can't leave them," Carlin said. "I can't let them be short-staffed and that type of thing so it's difficult for all of us."

Now, they're calling on Nebraskans to step up and help them.

"We know not everyone is in favor of vaccines, or mask mandates or things like that, but we have to do something different," Carlin said. "It's unnecessary the amount of suffering we're seeing."