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ONE OF THE HARDEST THINGS ABOUT THE PANDEMIC HAS BEEN THE SENSE OF ISOLATION FELT BY MANY WHO HAVE BECOME SICK. WARRANTY AND CONTAGIOUS KEPT FROM FAMILY AND FRIENDS BUT ONE GREENVILLE NURSE WAS DETERMINED THAT WHEN DEATH CAME FOR HIS PATIENTS. THE PATIENT WOULDN’T FACE IT ALONE. RENEE WUNDERLICH IS LIVE TONIGHT OUTSIDE PRISMA HELP, BUT THE STORY YOU’LL ONLY SEE ON WYFF NEWS. RENEE A REMARKABLE STORY IT REALLY IS CAROL AND WHAT’S PERHAPS MOST REMARKABLE IS HOW SIMPLE OF AN ACT IT WAS? WE DON’T OFTEN GET TO HEAR FROM HEALTHCARE WORKERS SINCE THEY’RE BUSY BATTLING THIS PANDEMIC, BUT THAT’S WHY I’M REALLY HONORED TO SHARE THIS STORY TONIGHT. NURSE SERVING WITH COMPASSI THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS PICTURE I WHAT YOU DON’T SEE A NURSE HOLDING THE HAND OF A PATIENT A THEY DIE FROM COVID-19 ARE PULL UP A CHAIR RIGHT BESIDE OR AND I HELD HER HAND. HAND JUST STAY THERE WITH HER. UNTIL SHE PASSED MY CATELYN IS A REGISTERED NURSE FOR PRISMA HEALTH UPSTATE AT THE ICU AT GREENVILLE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL. ANOTHER NURSE SNAPPED THIS PHOTO IN THE SPRING WHEN A PATIENT A WOMAN IN HER 80S WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS CAME INTO THE ICU WITH COVID-19. THE HOSPITAL ISN’T SHARING HER NAME TO RESPECT PATIENT PRIVACY. HE WAS SUCCUMBING TO THE VIRUS HER FAMILY HAD JUST WITHDRAWN CARE, AND THEY HAD COME TO SAY GOODBYE. IT’S DIFFICULT FOR THEM. TO NOT BE ABLE TO TOUCH THEIR FACE AND THEY’RE CRYING AND THESE MASKS THEY’RE HARD TO BREATHE IN. THE SHIELD’S THEY FOG UP IT IT’S A DIFFICULT SITUATION AT THE END AND THEY LOOKED AT ME AND THEY SEE MIKE. WE JUST CAN’T TAKE IT ANY LONGER. WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO GO. AND I SAID TO THEM I SAID WELL, DON’T WORRY. I STAY HERE. I’LL BE WITH HER UNTIL SHE TAKES HER LAST BREATH GATLIN BECAME A NURSE AFTER SERVING IN THE US AIR FORCE IN IRAQ NOW AT THE END OF A LONG HOSPITAL SHIFT FIGHTING ON A DIFFERENT KIND OF FRONT LINE. MIKE SAYS HE’S GRATEFUL FOR HIS FAMILY HIS WIFE GINA AND THEIR TWIN 16-MONTH OLD DAUGHTER’S MARCY AND REMY. MIKE ALSO CAN’T SAY ENOUGH ABOUT HIS FELLOW NURSES. USING THEIR EXPERIENCE ALONG WITH THEIR EMPATHY TO SERVE THEIR PATIENTS ARE COVID UNIT IS IS F YOU KNOW, I JUST IF EVERYONE FOLLOWS THE GUIDELINES CDC PUT OUT. NO, IT’LL HELP US AND IT WILL HELP ME AND MY CO-WORKERS TO HELP BETTER TAKE CARE OF THE PATIENTS THAT WE DO HAVE. MIKE DIDN’T HAVE TO STAY HE CHOSE TO. I ASKED HIM WHY AND HE SAID THE RIGHT THING TO DO L

‘I just stayed there with her’: Nurse holds hand of COVID-19 patient so she wouldn’t have to die alone

Registered Nurse Mike Gatlin works in the ICU at Prisma Health’s Greenville Memorial Hospital

The most important part of a picture of this South Carolina nurse is what you cannot see — he’s holding the hand of a patient as they die from COVID-19.Mike Gatlin is a Registered Nurse for Prisma Health Upstate in the ICU at Greenville Memorial Hospital. Another nurse snapped the photo in the spring when a patient, a woman in her 80s with pre-existing conditions, was succumbing to the virus. Her family had just withdrawn care and had come to say goodbye. “It’s difficult for them to not be able to touch their face. And they’re crying and these masks are hard to breathe in. The shields, they fog up. It’s a difficult situation to be in. And they looked at me and said, ‘Mike, we just can’t take it any longer, we are going to have to go,’ and I said to them, ‘well, don’t worry, I’ll stay here — I’ll be with her until takes her last breath,’” said Gatlin, “I pulled up a chair right beside her, and I held her hand… And I just stayed there with her until she passed.”Gatlin became a nurse after serving in the U.S. Air Force in Iraq.Now at the end of a long hospital shift, fighting on a different kind of front line, Mike said he’s grateful for his family — wife, Gina, and their twin 16-month-old daughters, Marci and Remi.Mike also can’t say enough about his fellow nurses, using their experience along with their empathy to help their patients.“You may not think it’s real, but we’re seeing actual numbers go up, and we’re seeing more patients in the hospital. We’re seeing higher ICU utilization and I see it on a day-to-day basis, every time I come into work,” he said, “Our COVID unit is full. So if everybody follows the guidelines that the CDC put out, it’ll help us and it’ll help me, and help my coworkers better take care of the patients we do have.”

GREENVILLE, S.C. —

The most important part of a picture of this South Carolina nurse is what you cannot see — he’s holding the hand of a patient as they die from COVID-19.

Mike Gatlin is a Registered Nurse for Prisma Health Upstate in the ICU at Greenville Memorial Hospital.

Another nurse snapped the photo in the spring when a patient, a woman in her 80s with pre-existing conditions, was succumbing to the virus. Her family had just withdrawn care and had come to say goodbye.

“It’s difficult for them to not be able to touch their face. And they’re crying and these masks are hard to breathe in. The shields, they fog up. It’s a difficult situation to be in. And they looked at me and said, ‘Mike, we just can’t take it any longer, we are going to have to go,’ and I said to them, ‘well, don’t worry, I’ll stay here — I’ll be with her until takes her last breath,’” said Gatlin, “I pulled up a chair right beside her, and I held her hand… And I just stayed there with her until she passed.”

Gatlin became a nurse after serving in the U.S. Air Force in Iraq.

Now at the end of a long hospital shift, fighting on a different kind of front line, Mike said he’s grateful for his family — wife, Gina, and their twin 16-month-old daughters, Marci and Remi.

Mike also can’t say enough about his fellow nurses, using their experience along with their empathy to help their patients.

“You may not think it’s real, but we’re seeing actual numbers go up, and we’re seeing more patients in the hospital. We’re seeing higher ICU utilization and I see it on a day-to-day basis, every time I come into work,” he said, “Our COVID unit is full. So if everybody follows the guidelines that the CDC put out, it’ll help us and it’ll help me, and help my coworkers better take care of the patients we do have.”