RICHMOND, Ky. (LEX 18) — The hardest part for Stacye Toups has been putting patients in isolation.
The former EKU student is now a fourth year medical student on the frontlines of the coronavirus response in Spain, where cases have spiked.
She works in a nursing home where her days now consist of calling families to give them updates on their loved ones, caring for patients and even crying with patients.
“I’m exhausted physically. I’m exhausted mentally, emotionally. I cry just about anything,” Toups said in a recent FaceTime interview.
She and her coworkers have had to re-use personal protective equipment like masks and gowns, she said.
“My n95 mask that I have I keep re-using, I have to keep putting hydrogen peroxide on it every two days to kind of disinfect it,” Toups said.
But she said she doesn’t fear getting the virus herself.
“I feel that I’m healthy enough that I can withstand it,” she said. “I also can’t allow myself to fear getting it because then I can’t take care of my patients. I want to be there for them I want to be able to help them.”
Her message to Americans is to stay home.
“It’s like a wildfire, you have to contain it by some method and the only way to do that is to keep everybody inside,” she said.
