Doctor cleans coronavirus patient's room for housekeeper
At first, the housekeeper at Spring Valley Hospital in Las Vegas didn't know what to make of the intensive care unit doctor, dressed in protective gear, who began cleaning the room of a COVID-19 patient.
"I feel like 'Aye doctor!' ... I said, 'Thank you so much.' And he goes, 'Of course, Irene. You know we love you,'" Irene Ibarra, the housekeeper at Spring Valley Hospital, told ABC News on Tuesday.
Dr. Kevin Tsui, who treats patients with COVID-19, said he'd cleaned the room for Ibarra to not only protect his ICU family, but also to help preserve the hospital's personal protective equipment.
"In all honesty, there wasn't really a thought process behind it all. I was already fully dressed," he said. "I just saw her going in the room and I just grabbed the broom and the mop and just went to town on those floors and just did it. Didn't really think about it. Kind of what we do around here."
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The moment was captured last week on video by Sharon Radcliffe, chief nursing officer at Spring Valley.
On Tuesday, Ibarra told ABC News that she was grateful for the doctor's kindness and proud to do her job.
"All the ICU nurses, doctors, we are family," she said. "We need to be positive and we can do this."
Tsui said the hospital workers were all in the fight together against COVID-19.
"We take care of the patients, which is our first and foremost goal, and take care of each other," he said. "That's the biggest thing. ... Help each other out, you know? Never above somebody, never below somebody. Just right beside them every single step."
