“I feel fortunate I was able to say so much without saying anything at all.” That’s 27-year-old ICU nurse Lauren Leander, speaking of spending her day off at a local rally in Phoenix Arizona. Lauren is normally responsible for caring for the COVID-19 patients who end up in her intensive care unit, but on April 20, 2020, she happened to have a day off from work. (1)
It turned out there was also a protest planned at the Arizona Capitol later that day; folks who had something to say about Governor Doug Ducey’s stay-at-home order. This order, like others across the country, is an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus which causes COVID-19. There are some people who feel that this viral pandemic is not as severe as is being presented in the media, and the resulting fear and anger are beginning to spill over. The bottom line is that people are worried they aren’t going to be able to put food on the table if they can’t work. So, they chose to exercise their right to free speech by gathering in large numbers to state their grievance. (1)
Protest Rally Heats Up
Nurse Leander had seen images from other protest rallies around the country and decided to see if a few of her colleagues wanted to join her there. The intention was not to draw attention but instead to simply be present… have a presence… in this protest. To remind people of the front line workers. Those who would be put in harm’s way through such careless actions as protesting with no social distancing measures, or even a mask.
“Whether you believe in the virus or not, we’re the people who are going to take care of you one way or the other,” Lauren said during a phone interview with The Arizona Republic. (1)
Lauren stood there silently in her scrubs and mask, as streams of insults were thrown her way by protesters. Some accused her of being an actor, while others suggested that she was not a real nurse; instead perhaps a dentist’s assistant or a healthcare professional who performs abortions.
Lauren’s Silent Protest Rally
While she did speak briefly with a local news station, she did not engage with any of the protestors. What she saw was people who seem to honestly believe wholeheartedly that concerns about the virus are overblown. Folks who refuse to be driven by some unseen threat. Most protesters didn’t wear masks or keep their distance from each other, but Lauren did. She’s seen firsthand what this illness can do, and she’s not taking any chances. She wasn’t there to side with them, she was there to be present as a reminder that it’s not just their own health these protesters are gambling with. “It was disheartening to have those kinds of comments thrown in my face, “ she told the Arizona Republic. (1)
“I Hadn’t Been Scared As A Nurse Before That Day”
Nurse Leander is a graduate of Arizona State University’s nursing school and has been a professional in this field for six years. In February when Banner University Medical Center opened a new overflow unit specifically for COVID-19 patients, she volunteered to work there. She figured she’s young and healthy, and child-free too, which is an added bonus because there’s no one to bring the virus home to. So she was happy to take on the 12 hour days, 3-4 days per week. Her very first patient was a young, healthy, vibrant woman, a lot like Lauren herself. And she was in the throws of respiratory distress, fighting not just for her next breath but for her entire life, and Lauren felt a fear she’d never had before that day.
“If there was an explosion of this virus, we would not be OK,” she said. “We would not have what we need anymore.” (1) The exact intention of a stay-at-home order is, of course, to flatten the curve – to lessen the impact of the virus by slowing its spread. Time will tell how much damage has been done by this rally and those like it around the country.
For now, Nurse Lauren Leander will keep doing what she does best: caring for the people who are sick so they can live another day in the Land of the Free.
