Editor’s note: We are in awe of the sacrifices doctors, nurses and hospital staff are making everyday during this pandemic. We’d like to extend a huge thank-you to the faces featured below, and to all the frontline workers. Sara Morris is a photographer and ICU nurse at a small community hospital in Charlottesville, Virginia. In this photo essay, she documents frontline workers at her hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. The following are her words and photos.
When we saw this virus coming, it was like waiting for a wave to crash ashore. We were given the extraordinary task of keeping people alive from an unknown illness. When the rest of the world shut down, we continued to face our fears every time we walked through our hospital doors.
We continue to fight for these people minute by minute, hour by hour. It’s like a marathon at times with no end in sight. We have seen death, life, hope, miracles. It’s been a long and sometimes arduous journey.
Throughout much of this pandemic, I had been keeping my gift of photography away from work as I fought in the trenches alongside my fellow nurses in the ICU. In our first hit from the pandemic, I created wooden plaques to help lift everyone’s spirits, but I started feeling like I needed to do something more personal. Finally, as we hit a third surge, I decided that it was time to honor my coworkers with my gift of photography.
I want these pictures to tell our story.
“When the rest of the world shut down, we continued to face our fears every time we walked through our hospital doors.”
The faces of our ICU are filled with years of experience, youthfulness, and some just starting or getting out of nursing school, all of us working with these patients day in and day out.
Respiratory therapists are the wizards of the ventilators, sometimes changing settings several times a shift. As they change their settings, we tweak our life-saving drips. It is a yin and yang relationship.
The doctors and nurse practitioners here are abreast of the most up-to-date recommendations and so receptive to input from the rest of the team. Our team runs like a smooth ship sailing through choppy waters.
If only people could see what our eyes have seen. As we wear our masks, we are faceless, unknown, the unsung. Throughout it all, we have clung to love, hope, and faith. This is what keeps us coming back. We see people, not the virus. We listen, connect, and learn as we navigate this storm. We are hopeful as we pioneer the first rounds of the vaccine.
“If only people could see what our eyes have seen.”
“We see people, not the virus.”
Frontline worker after frontline worker, we voluntarily roll up our sleeves to protect our families, neighbors, and communities. This is one part of our history we will never forget.
Photos by Sara Morris.
Check out our special photo project: Click for Our Heroes
Photographers reached for their cameras to show the world their grateful hearts and tell their powerful personal stories through their creativity. This project has been a photographer’s version of clapping for the healthcare heroes, store workers, delivery drivers, police, firefighters, military and countless other courageous helpers working so hard to keep us safe. View the photo project here and on Instagram at #clickforourheroes.
We invite you to add your own photos on Instagram and tag #clickforourheroes. Let’s keep the gratitude flowing!
More COVID-19 photography we think you’ll like:
Love in the time of COVID: How 14 wedding photographers are carrying on
A creative approach to 30 days of family documentary photography during COVID-19
Quietly beautiful photos of an empty Key West during the Coronavirus pandemic
We are OK and we are not OK: A photographer’s diary while quarantined in China
5 Inspired ways to photograph your new normal amid the Coronavirus pandemic
Powerful images that convey so much about the burden our frontline workers are carrying, but also their dignity, resolve, and strength. Thank you.
This team is dedicated and amazing. Thank you!!!!!!. I pray for you each day and pray for your families.
Sara,
Thank you for sharing this experience through your narration and photos. I am grateful for our committed and talented staff who work diligently to support and heal our patients. You photos are stunning.