Sarah Dempseyâs thoughts were sitting heavy. Sheâs 28, married with a 3-year-old and an infant, and a year and a half into her career as a registered nurse. She leaves her family most days a little after 6 a.m. for bone-tiring, 12-hour shifts in a Covid-19 wing at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital that is busier now than it was in the spring, when the pandemic began. Treating Covid-19 is intense and clustered. When Dempsey and other medical staff walk into a room, they don full personal protective equipment and take care of every possible need: checking vitals, changing a dirty bedpan, or even just providing an assuring conversation. When they exit the room, where the coronavirus was in the air and on the surfaces, the PPE comes off and they switch into new gear before walking in to see the next patient.