ODESSA, Texas — Friday marks the two-year anniversary of the first presumptive case of COVID-19 in the state of Texas. Those two years were filled with uncertainty, fear, faith and strength.
NewsWest 9 spoke with Amanda Everett, Manager for Emergency Management Safety at Medical Center Hospital. She said the hospital is not in the same spot it was two years ago, and the virus has changed the world in more ways than one.
"I cannot believe we have been doing this for two years," said Everett. "I went back and I was looking at some of the records that we were holding on patients and just looking on the severity of the patients and the deaths, this has been heartbreaking. We have all found strengths and weaknesses and have come together better as a team."
Everett said in the beginning, many people thought COVID-19 would resemble the effects of other diseases, like Ebola.
"Ebola got to Dallas and then it never spread anywhere else," said Everett. "In the back of all of our heads, we were just praying that COVID would not come to us. Not wishing ill on the bigger cities, but that it would go to the bigger cities and then it would die out. Then we got the call that we had it here at Medical Center and reality hit really quickly."
Everett told NewsWest 9 they saw how the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic started to affect other places around the country.
"We were reading how Washington hospitals and New York hospitals were being completely overran," said Everett. "Where there were so many patients and there weren't enough nurses. As we all know, the nursing field has a shortage, and this was one of our concerns."
Overall, Everett remains extremely thankful for the healthcare community, but also for the support it has received in the last two years.
"Thank you to the community for being so supportive of all of us in healthcare," said Everett. "I want to say thank you to the healthcare workers that got up and went to work everyday to help take care of our community, just overall a big heartfelt thank you to everybody. Let's keep doing what we are doing to see if we can get rid of this."
Everett continues to emphasize the importance of hand washing and sanitizing methods. She also hopes people get educated and consider getting vaccinated against the virus.