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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWhen COVID broke out, she moved to California where the need for ER nurses was great. \u201cThe things that were happening in California with COVID were similar to the things in New York,\u201d she said. \u201cIt just wasn\u2019t televised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the ER, you never know what\u2019s coming through the door anyway. But COVID was a little different because you had to mask up before you could even touch people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was very hard to watch people pass away every couple of minutes. You did all the things that you could do, and you still couldn\u2019t save them. Their family couldn\u2019t be there with them, and you also weren\u2019t with your family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou just felt helpless, because you couldn\u2019t help them, even though we had all the resources. The respiratory disease just was brutal. COVID was terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thomas didn\u2019t recognize what treating COVID patients was doing to her. She knew she didn\u2019t enjoy going to work anymore, but she didn\u2019t know how bad it was. She even started having suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After four years at various hospitals across the state of California, she came back to Kansas. It was there that it hit her. And it was in the unlikeliest of places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKansas had just lifted its mask mandate, but California still had a heavy policy on masks,\u201d she said. \u201cOne of my favorite stores is Scheels, so when I came home, my partner and I went to Scheels for a little bit of joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe store was packed, and I went in with a mask. We both wore masks, but nobody else did. When we walked in there, we got a lot of looks and stares. My chest got hot, and I got very uncomfortable. We immediately had to leave the store, and that\u2019s very much unlike me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was her partner who recognized how different Thomas was acting. When she mentioned it, Thomas snapped at her. But she soon realized she had to do something, so she begrudgingly enrolled in The Battle Within, an organization that helps former military personnel and first responders cope with their sometimes-hidden trauma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having people who were experiencing the same things she was experiencing helped Thomas. Through The Battle Within, she recognized that she was still carrying trauma from taking care of her mother as she was dying. Slowly, she started to realize there could be joy again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe program allowed me to cope with day-to-day activities, trying to maintain normalcy while trying to return back to the career that I love,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Battle Within changed my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She decided the best way to pay back those who helped her with her recovery was to become a mentor herself. She admits that mentoring helps her own recovery because you\u2019re going through the training again, just with more tools in your tool belt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMaybe one of the classes that didn\u2019t speak to me when I was going through it can speak to me now,\u201d she said. \u201cI can just take notes and apply it to whatever I\u2019m going through now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of her work, Thomas is the September recipient of the \u201cBlue KC Answering the Call\u201d award, sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, benefitting The Battle Within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now, thanks to The Battle Within, Thomas is once again enjoying the joy of working in the ER.<\/p>\n\n\n
Blue KC supports the Kansas City community through impactful sports partnership programs<\/h3>
Blue KC Answering the Call program<\/p> <\/div>\n