OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Sandy Whited called Methodist Medical Center home for more than three decades. She said she's done everything from cardiology to pediatrics to acute care and everything in between.
She never thought she'd leave. Then came COVID-19.
"It became more stressful," she said. "Families did not understand why they couldn't come see their family members."
It became worse when Sandy was diagnosed with COVID-19. She spent 24 days battling the virus at Methodist Medical, including more than a week in the acute care unit she typically worked in.
"It was very, very difficult," she said. "When I finally went back last February, it was awful. It was just really, really so much harder for me."
Sandy loves nursing, so she continued to work at the hospital alongside her second family. Eventually, it became too much.
"People that we're seeing now are not vaccinated at all and that's what's so frustrating," she said. "Just the stress physically, emotionally... I was just like, 'No, I have to find something else.' And, the good Lord sent me something else."
In late January, she left her hospital job of 34 years for a new role as a hospice nurse. It's a change she doesn't think she would have made without the pandemic.
"I hated to leave. I hated to leave my second family because that was really hard," she said. "I was lucky I got a second chance and I'm making some changes. It's hard, but I think it's going to be a change for the better. I really do."
COVID-19 helped Sandy put things in perspective. She's excited for a change of pace so she can start focusing on herself.
"I've lived it. I've watched it. And it's heartbreaking... It tears you up inside," she said of COVID-19. "It was a hard decision [to leave], but I feel so good about having made that decision."