Tucson Hospital Asks Community To Do Its Part With Open Letter

TUCSON, AZ — Nurses at one of Southern Arizona's largest hospitals wrote an open letter to the community, urging them to continue to take the coronavirus seriously as cases surge to record-breaking levels.

"We know you are tired," registered nurses Judy Rich, Mimi Coomler and Joy Upshaw — members of the Tucson Medical Center leadership team — wrote. "We see you. Now, we need you to see us. We are tired, too."

The nurses describe the hospital's internal efforts to curb the spread of the virus from the front lines, while many co-workers become infected, all while caring for their own families and watching as hospitalizations soar. Tucson Medical Center, which has served the community for 75 years, was forced to activate its surge plans to expand capacity for coronavirus patients and is now looking to hire more staff.

"We are tired of seeing young people, our elders and everyone in between on ventilators," the letter read. "We are tired of watching people we know get sick from this virus. Our co-workers are getting sick and we are short-staffed. It is becoming more difficult to transfer patients who have critical needs to hospitals that have ICU capacity for greater levels of care. Now it’s your turn. Our future - your future - is in your hands."

Arizona reported 4,928 new coronavirus cases and 73 confirmed deaths Thursday. Pima County accounted for 866 and 16 of them, respectively. All Pima County hospitals reached capacity Wednesday as the virus shows no signs of slowing down.

The Tucson Medical Center letter was the official launch of its #InThisTogether social media campaign. The campaign, accompanied with images of real doctors and nurses wearing their PPE, is intended to encourage the community to continue washing their hands, wearing masks and limiting gatherings as the holidays near.

Julia Strange, vice president of community benefit for the medical center, told Patch that the letter came about naturally from nurses working with coronavirus patients every day who just want the public's help to take some stress off of the hospital's shoulders.

"The nursing leadership just wanted to carry that message forward to say everyone should be in this together so we can get to the other side of this pandemic," she said.

Strange said that the hospital's frontline workers see the community's fatigue of mitigation efforts, all while they work long shifts wearing goggles, masks, face shields, gowns and any other PPE available to keep them safe.

"One of one doctors recently told me, 'You know, if this were a hurricane or an earthquake or war, the community would see the devastation in the streets. And in this pandemic, everything is sort of neatly contained within the hospital walls and the community can't see it,'" Strange said.

The campaign is limited to the digital space for now, but Strange said the letter has gained traction online, with people actively sharing and engaging with it.

It gained the attention of Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, who thanked them for their efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

She said she hopes the letter serves as a warning that if the community doesn't take science seriously, Tucson could soon reach a point where there won't be enough beds or staff to care for the people who need it. While the medical center hopes for a statewide mask mandate, Strange said the onus is really on individuals to play a small part in making a big difference with mitigation efforts like masks and social distancing.

"This holiday season, the phrase that we're using is love big and gather small," she said. "We want people to have small, limited gatherings, stay at home when you can, enjoy the outdoors and limit your time indoors."