God Is Not Boring

An Interview With A COVID-19 Nurse

Written By: Shari Tvrdik

I met up on a zoom chat  with thirty-five year old Kristy Bebar at the tail-end of a thirteen hour shift on a COVID Unit at Amita St. Alexius Medical Center in Chicago’s Cook County.

Kristy’s smile told none of the stress she was under.

It was wide, real and full of joy despite COVID-19.

“This is mentally, physically, heartbreaking, costly, stressful work.” she said when describing her current service as a nurse on a COVID floor. 

Kristy’s nursing experience includes med-surg, orthopedic, ER , surgery and recovery as well as working as a charge nurse. 

“Two moths ago,”  Kristy said, “I had a great job at Saint Margaret’s Hospital in Spring Valley where I had worked for ten years. Saint Margaret’s had made it a goal not to let anyone go despite the Covid and they stuck to that.” 

All that changed when Kristy began to hear of the need for COVID nurses in areas of the country where clusters were forming.  

“I knew I needed to do more, to somehow use my gifts and talents to go help.” she said. 

At first Kristy wanted to stay around and serve her own community. She waited for the COVID Crisis to hit near her but, she says, “By the grace of God it just didn’t”.

Kristy was sure she should go to where the need was the greatest but didn’t find a lot of support from her friends and compassionate colleagues who were concerned for her taking such a big risk . 

In order for Kristy to go, she would need to give up her secure job and not take the advice from those who loved her the most. 

This was not easy for Kristy to do. 

“Most of them have come around by now and have become very supportive of my decision.” She said. 

“I didn’t grow up thinking I’d be nurse. I thought I’d be a teacher, but for sure God changed my heart and mind about that. Sometimes I feel like God dragged me into a nursing career kicking and screaming.” Kristy told me.

Kristy has since come to love nursing and has used her vocation to travel to Bolivia with Cup of Cold Water Ministries, her short term mission sending agency. There she served as a nurse to people in the Bolivian jungles who do not have access to medical care. 

On April 20th Kristy went to serve in Detroit Michigan at Ascension St. Providence Hospital. At that time Detroit was experiencing the second heaviest cluster with at one point having a higher rate of infection than New York.

“I truly felt God leading me to go into the COVID units, and so I did.” Kristy told me. 

Kristy bought her first house in Dalzell, IL just last year. It was a big leap of faith to walk away from her full time nursing job to work as a COVID NURSE.

She said, “I cried like a baby when I had to leave my dog and parents behind.” Kristy’s worse fear was that her family would get sick with COVID while she was gone, or that she would accidentally bring home COVID to her family.  

“I didn’t know when I would see them again, and I haven’t see them again.” she says. 

There were all sacrifices Kristy chose to make in order to go in the direction she felt the Lord leading her. 

I asked Kristy to tell me about what that first day was like. 

“Four hours before the start of my shift I got a call asking me to go to a completely different hospital than I had been assigned to.” 

Kristy’s work on the short term mission field had taught her to be as flexible as she was alert. She made the necessary adjustments and arrived shortly before her shift even though it was an hour drive from where she had expected to work. 

“The first moment walking into the hospital I’ll admit I was afraid. The staff went above and beyond to help me feel comfortable.”

I asked Kristy to tell me what she noticed when her shift began.
“The patients. They were very sick. From the door you could tell their color and their breathing was very poor. The patients were short of breath and it was difficult for them to speak at all.

Nothing was the same as far as how I am used to caring for my patients. It was hard to get enough necessary protective equipment. We had to bundle all our meds, and we couldn’t bring in our computers or anything else. It was a struggle to get a handle on the new charting system. I had to layer my gloves and be extremely conscious of how I stepped in and out of a patients room, wanting to protect everyone involved.”

When Kristy talks about her patients I can hear a true love in her voice. 

“At some point the patients would ask me where I was from. When I would tell them Dalzell, IL they were surprised and asked me why I was there. I would get a chance to tell them I felt God had called me to help them.  Many of my patients were full of admiration. I would tell them I wasn’t anything amazing, I’m just a woman called to help.”

When Kristy was no longer needed in Detroit she looked for the next available place on the map to serve.

She told me, 
“After Detroit I felt there was still more work to do, so I applied to come here to Chicago for the next four weeks. People need me. Their families can’t see them, or be here for them. They are declining so fast and they have to do this alone. It is so scary for them, and I long to give them a little bit of peace. It’s something small, that I can do. I don’t do anything big, I just feed them and hold their hand. Some patients I wish I could just kiss and hug and hold them. I know they are suffering and so lonely. “

Kristy told me, 

“My patients are collected in my heart and mind now. I can’t forget them. I pray that my actions speak even louder than my words when showing God’s love to them.”

Kristy laughed when she said, 

“I”m learning how much you can talk with your eyes. My patients can see so little of me with all the masks, PPE and shield.”

I asked Kristy how she was taking care of herself and she replied, 

“Not a lot! I”m having donuts for breakfast. I go to sleep with my patients on my mind. I pray for them and for the next ones coming up.”

But a community is reaching out to take care of Kristy, she told me, 

“So many people have reached out to me. People I don’t even know are sending me cards and Bible verses. I am so thankful. I don’t think I’ve ever sent a hand written letter to a stranger, and yet that is what people are doing for me. It meant a lot to me. “

I asked Kristy when she was planning to return to Dalzell,

“I don’t know just yet. I am going to stay until I feel I’m not needed here.” she said.

She told me, 

“God is not boring.”

 “I’ve followed his call to several precarious places on the planet. My life, following God as been radically changed. The places He takes you that you just didn’t see coming or you didn’t think were possible for you are amazing.” 

Kristy quotes a passage from the Bible, Proverbs 16:3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do and He will establish your plans.

She says,

“I first read that Bible verse in Bolivia as I was tracking through the jungle. I sometimes want to pinch myself, thinking, am I really doing this is this my life? I’m just so incredibly grateful for these opportunities to serve. 

If you want to support Kristy Bebar ’s efforts you can find more information here