Dealing with sudden illness a stark, personal reality for critical care trainer

Amid the uncertainty of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Saint Joseph Hospital in Lexington, like many other health care providers across the nation, is trying to do all it can to be ready if a surge of patients hits, a real possibility whenever state and local governments begin relaxing stay-at-home measures.

Saint Joseph critical care clinical educator Tracy Rexford is one of the people tasked with helping some 45 staff members, who don’t normally work in critical care, prepare. With elective and other procedures on hold during the crisis. Saint Joseph is trying to make the most of the staff members sidelined in those areas.

“The ultimate (realization) is that we’re caring for people. This isn’t just a project,” Rexford said just a few days before Gov. Andy Beshear recommended all the state’s schools remain closed for the rest of the semester. “I have a strong faith in Jesus Christ, and he’s definitely my refuge and my spiritual walk makes a difference for me. (I’m) just trusting and abiding and leaning into the strength that he gives me to help mentor and coach my staff.”

The importance of fostering quality critical care isn’t just a job for Rexford. That someone could go from being completely healthy to near death in a very short time, unfortunately, visited her family just a few years ago.

Rexford and her daughter, Anna, made a mission trip to Haiti in the summer of 2016. On their return, Rexford’s 14-year-old began feeling ill — a severe headache, body aches and a fever that spiked at 106.8 degrees. Her temperature hovered around 103 degrees seemingly forever. Anna spent more than a week in the hospital with severe dehydration and an infection due to a couple of different strains of bacteria.

Thankfully, the care, antibiotics, prayer and Anna’s determination helped see her through. It took a while to fully recover, but by October she began starting as a freshman as goalkeeper for the varsity West Jessamine soccer team. They won the state title. And the Colts repeated the feat the next season with Anna earning MVP honors in both. She’s signed with the University of Cincinnati to play soccer this fall.

“I think it just helps put it in perspective that there’s hope and there’s light on the other side,” Tracy Rexford said of how that personal struggle informs her today in this current crisis. “And just the determination to get through it even though there’s uncertainty of how it will end. We will get through it — just hang on and persevere.”

Anna Rexford graduated high school early to go on a 10-week mission trip to Kenya recently. She made it home in early March, just before the coronavirus shutdowns began.

Tracy Rexford’s oldest daughter, Ali, has a wedding planned in May, but there’s no telling how that will work out if restraints aren’t lifted. Her husband, Brandon Rexford, is completing his final semester before his retirement from teaching at Henry Clay High School. He’s at home with their eighth-grade daughter, Abby, and second-grade son, Boaz. He almost made it out before the NTI technology boom created by the shutdowns. Now among the three of them, he’s getting a crash course in online learning.

“My eighth-grade, 14-year-old daughter is our IT consult,” Rexford said, laughing. “She set up Google Classroom for him.”

Rexford has been with St. Joseph for 27 years, and her role normally includes helping new hires and transfers orient to the demands of critical care and providing continuing education for those already there.

COVID-19’s symptoms vary, but at its worst, it quickly evolves into life-threatening pneumonia requiring people to be put on ventilators to survive. Hospitals in hot spots around the country have been stressed to and beyond their limits.

Now, Rexford is cross-training nurses who might not have been bedside in such situations in years.

“We’re working with them on that, navigating their schedules, their comfort levels, their confidence, competency and preparing for what we could potentially see in the next couple of weeks and how to be safe and care for our patients well here at Saint Joseph Hospital,” Rexford said.

It is a big change for some. Communication and the willingness to collaborate have been key, Rexford said.

“This isn’t any of our choice. And so with that, we don’t have certainty,” Rexford acknowledged. “How long will the surge be? When is life going to be normal again? … It comes to the fact that we have to have the courage to navigate it and do it as best we can.”

This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 7:19 AM.

Jared Peck

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-488-2883

Jared Peck, the Herald-Leader’s Digital Sports Writer, covers high school athletics and has been with the company as a writer and editor for more than 20 years. Support my work with a digital subscription