‘It is our fight together’: Local nurse pleads for COVID-19 safety compliance

IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. — A local nurse who works in a COVID-19 unit says health care workers need everyone to come together and work collectively to get through this pandemic.

Iredell County nurse Holly Delargy spoke one-on-one with Eyewitness News anchor Brittney Johnson about her experience on the front line over the last nine months.

Delargy said we’ve come a long way since the beginning of the pandemic when there was a lot of support for health care workers, including food deliveries and flyovers. She said a lot of that outward support has quieted down despite health care workers being busier than ever battling COVID-19.

“I’ve always wanted to be a nurse since I was a little girl,” Delargy said.

She made her childhood dream come true five years ago by becoming a nurse in her hometown. She’s spent the past five years working as a critical care nurse and the past nine months taking care of a growing number of COVID-19 patients.

“You put everything you have – emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally – on the line, and you’re just going in every day and giving it all you have because that’s what has to be done,” she said.

Delargy uses Facebook to share her point of view and remind people to trust health care workers.

When many struggled with ruined Thanksgiving plans, she posted a photo of herself, masked up at work, with the following caption:

This was how I spent my Thanksgiving.

Not with my family.

COVID is real. It is serious. It is not always “mild.” Please, do your part. Nurses are so overwhelmed.

When you spew misinformation, you are harming me. Not an imaginary virus, ME. I am a COVID nurse. I see this firsthand.

Remember, there are thousands of “me.” Mothers, daughters, sons, brothers, dads, aunts, uncles, they/them, and friends who are out here facing this every day. We don’t get a day off or a moment of disregard, nothing. We understand this more than we want to. We are tired. We are broken. We want your help.

“People came in and trusted us before. They came to us for advice, medication, treatment, and put trust in us for their lives. And we are doing the same thing now just in a pandemic. I would like to see that trust put back,” she said.

She said she sees posts from people who appear to consider COVID-19 as an inconvenience, and she wants them to see what she sees.

“There is a number of people who are suffering in isolation; long suffering because the disease drags out for some of these people and they’re scared. They’re lonely,” she said.

Delargy and her colleagues are committed to being companions and caretakers for their patients, but they also need everyone else to help slow the spread.

“It is our fight together. It is not a medical fight. It’s a whole community. It’s a global fight and I would love for everybody to be on the same team,” she said.

Delargy said she doesn’t need or expect praise or thanks. She just wants people to do their part.

She also wants any health care workers that feel overwhelmed to know they are not alone. She hopes they will find someone to talk to.

Mental Health America offers resources for frontline workers. Click here to learn more.

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