TORONTO -- A Tennessee ICU nurse has inspired other health-care workers to share how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected them by posting before-and-after photos of herself that show the physical toll it鈥檚 taken on her.
On Sunday, Kathryn, who requested her last name be withheld due to harassment concerns, .
In the first photo, which was taken in the middle of April right after she graduated from nursing school, Kathryn appears fresh-faced and smiling as she poses for the camera.
In the second one, which was taken while she was at work on Saturday, Kathryn is unsmiling with bags under her eyes and the marks from a face mask visible on her cheeks.
She captioned the composite photo: 鈥淗ow it started鈥 how it鈥檚 going.鈥
Kathryn, who works as an ICU nurse in Nashville, Tenn., said she decided to share the photos so people who don鈥檛 spend every day in a hospital can see how the pandemic is affecting health-care workers.
鈥淚t鈥檚 exhausting,鈥 she told CTVNews.ca during a telephone interview on Tuesday. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 see it. They don鈥檛. They don鈥檛 see what we see. They don鈥檛 see the reality of this every day.鈥
While she can鈥檛 take photos of her patients who are battling COVID-19, Kathryn said she realized she might be able to provide a glimpse of what life has been like in a hospital setting during the pandemic by pointing the camera at herself.
鈥淚 mean just the physical effects of wearing all that PPE (personal protective equipment) for so long,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e dehydrated all the time because we鈥檙e sweating so much and because with the masks on, you can鈥檛 drink until you leave the floor or go into the break room to take your mask off and drink.鈥
Kathryn said she expects there to be another surge of new COVID-19 cases in Tennessee in the coming weeks, so she wanted to send a message to those who may not be taking the pandemic and public health measures seriously.
鈥淭here鈥檚 still no definitive treatment for this disease and so to see my patients, these people that I provide care for, suffer so intensely and then see other people acting like that鈥檚 not happening, or like they couldn鈥檛 cause that to happen to someone else, is infuriating,鈥 she said.
It appears Kathryn鈥檚 post struck a nerve among other health-care workers, who also took to Twitter to share their own before-and-after photos of what life has been like for them during the pandemic.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Kathryn鈥檚 post has received more than 921,000 likes and has been retweeted more than 72,000 times.
