Doctor Maged Tanios is reflected in the face shield of Intensive Care Unit Nurse Merlin Pambuan, 66, after Pambuan walked out of the hospital where she spent 8 months with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at Dignity Health – St. Mary Medical Center, in Long Beach, California, U.S., December 21, 2020. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
LONG BEACH, Calif. (Reuters) - As a veteran ICU nurse whose job is to care for the most critically ill patients at her hospital in Long Beach, California, Merlin Pambuan was well aware of the deadly ravages COVID-19 can inflict on the human body.
Last spring in a tragic role reversal, Pambuan became one of those patients - admitted to the intensive care unit of St. Mary Medical Center, her workplace for the past 40 years, where she was rendered unconscious by paralysis-inducing sedation and placed on a ventilator to breathe. A feeding tube was later added.
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
