GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The coronavirus pandemic has taken a major toll on healthcare workers across Michigan and across the globe. The battle has been brutal and exhausting.
An emergency room nurse in Grand Rapids is sharing her story. Audrey Wendt said the emotion of caring for the unvaccinated in particular is growing -- and it just hit home with her own family.
She said she is sad, angry and grieving. Her uncle died from COVID, he was not vaccinated. She said he was thinking about getting vaccinated when he had contact with someone who was also not vaccinated and he got sick.
In one of their final conversations over Zoom, he told Wendt that he planned to get vaccinated when he got out of the hospital.
“He was a really good person. No health problems. He was -- he really took care of himself. And he thought that he might not need it because he never got sick. That’s what he said. And he didn’t ever get sick -- and except for this time,” Wendt said.
Her uncle, John Ziehm, is survived by his wife, two sons and one grandson -- and another grandson on the way.