Due to the high demand for nurses that came with the fourth surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers are now demanding an increase in payment for their services. According to Dallas-based travel nurse Katie Givins, COVID patients are “so sick and unstable. It’s really hard,” she said.
Givins has tended to many COVID-19 patients from New York to Florida. Initially, she worked in Dallas, but she considered other high-paying options as she started to feel unappreciated by her former boss.
According to Givins, the difficult and dangerous nature of her job made her utilize it to give her family more financial security.
“I think I got three years’ worth of salary in about four and half months,” the mother of two said, talking about the rewards that come with her travel jobs. “I was even paid enough to have the summer off with my kids since I was gone for so long,” she continued.
Despite the financial rewards and the fulfillment that come with helping as many sick patients as she can, Givins would like to see an end to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of COVID wards. “Nurses are tired. They are so tired,” she says.
Speaking of constantly being away from her family, she says, “I miss the kids, miss watching my daughter’s sports and that part’s the hardest.”
The veteran nurse further urges people to get vaccinated. “We still care. We want everyone to get the vaccination if they can,” she says, “It’s really helping people. Most people are unvaccinated in the ICU right now.”
Givins also expressed hopes that the payment of healthcare workers will see an increase as she would like to see her colleagues get deserving rewards for their hard work. According to her, more health care workers will stay at their home hospitals if more hospitals paid their staff appropriately.
