COLUMBIA, S.C. — Exhausted frontline workers hope the vaccine will bring an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amber Ramos is a registered nurse at Prisma Health and is hopeful as the vaccine is beginning to be distributed.
Ramos works with some of the hospital's sickest patients and is seeing ICU beds fill up.
"Our COVID strain is above and beyond what our out normal population looks like... We are seeing very very sick patients."
The ICU nurse has been battling COVID on the frontlines since the beginning.
"It has been a long year for us," Ramos said. Now she's being called to battle again, as case numbers spike. "We are exhausted."
Already tired, Ramos says everyone's working even harder, "Each shift is long. It is hard. We are working hard."
According to Ramos, the ICU floor is already a busy place and is just seeing an increase in patients. Staff are working grueling shifts and seeing COVID-19 patients full their units.
"You see a lot of instability in their vital signs. You see a lot of instability in their oxygen exchange."
Across the country, nurses and doctors have gone viral after posting videos from the frontlines.
"We do get a little disheartened to see that another wave is going to come." Ramos said.
Ramos said she got her first vaccine as soon as it was available to her because she is risking exposure every single day. She said the vaccine gives her some sense of hope and a relief that she's able to do something for her COVID-19 patients.