Nurse (illustrative)
Nurse (illustrative)iStock

Odaya Eisenberg, a nurse in Shaare Zedek Medical Center's isolation ward, volunteered to work in the hospital's "coronavirus" ward.

On Thursday, she published a Facebook post describing the difficulties in working around the clock in the coronavirus ward, begging Israelis to keep to the Health Ministry guidelines and pray that the pandemic ends.

The post quickly went viral. Here is a translation of it:

"Please, don't read this post. You have enough worries without me making you any sadder. But I have to get this out, and it's not fair to go back to the dorms and cry again and again to the same friends.

"Hi, my name is Odaya, I'm an ICU nurse. Or at least I was. Now I'm already not managing to be a nurse, I'm hardly a quarter of a person. I volunteered to work in the coronavirus unit, with a fire in my eyes and a fire in my heart. But the fire was there two weeks ago. Today, this photograph was taken. The photograph was taken in the middle of a 15-hour shift, without time to eat, not to mention sit. After three hours that I was in the department itself (when the maximum we're allowed to be there at a time is two hours, and then we need to go back to the operations room - today, there's no longer any choice).

"In the photo, you don't see the marks the protective suit left on my skin. In the photo, you don't see the patient who begged us to put him unconscious and on a respirator, because he no longer has the strength to breathe. I lied to him and told him it'll be just a little longer. You don't see the patient who barely whispered, asking me to sit next to him and not leave him. I lied to him and said I'm here, and that he can rest. He closed his eyes and I left. You don't see the patient who I told that we are coming to put her out and put her on a respirator, and when I asked her if she had any questions after the doctor left, and if she understood what he said, she said, 'For sure I understood, I'm leaving this world.' I cried and lied to her. And I made her tea. And she told me I'm special and thanks for the tea.

"You don't see her daughter, who cried to me on the phone. To her I didn't lie. I couldn't get words out. Only tears. You don't see in the photo that I sentenced myself to loneliness, which is worse than quarantine. Because quarantine I chose. Anything in order not to endanger my family, and not to take the chance that I will have to self-isolate and stop working. And you don't see the seven hours after this photo.

"Don't share. Don't like this. I'm not even begging that you stay in your homes, because I'm sure you're not walking around anymore. You know what you can do? Tear the heavens with prayers. Tear them. Plead for us, that we'll have the strength to take care of your loved ones. We have no time to pray. And we have no strength. And we're only at the beginning."