Moving forward, the COVID-19 pandemic will have lifelong effects on so many aspects of our lives, but most importantly the healthcare industry will forever be changed. The definition of what it takes to be a healthcare worker will be changed. Globally, I think healthcare institutions and protocols will be re-evaluated and this will hopefully start an improvement of healthcare across the world. I feel and hope that more funding will go into biomedical research, medical supplies and equipment production, and prevention strategies. Healthcare inequality is an issue seen on domestic and international levels, and the COVID-19 pandemic has truly shown the ugly truth behind it all. There are huge gaps in our healthcare infrastructure, and there have been for decades. There are disparities between so many populations when it comes to healthcare access and treatment. Some of those reasons being socioeconomic, such as not having insurance or money to pay for basic healthcare treatments. So many individuals could not afford the “best of the best” hospitalization and treatment that some authority figures were able to receive simply because of monetary reasons. I believe every individual should have access to basic healthcare needs, and that this will be a pressing issue after the pandemic ends. Regardless of their financial situation, race, where they live, occupation, social status, and so much more. This gap in healthcare infrastructure needs to be solved, as so many innocent lives were taken due to a lack of access to healthcare. 

In addition, I hope that more funding will be put towards biomedical research and emergency medical preparedness. I think many can agree that no one was prepared for this pandemic. And I think that poses an issue on itself – our healthcare industry was simply not prepared for any type of emergency, and we should have been. Granted, our nation has not seen a healthcare emergency like this in a long time, but I think that it is a responsibility of our leaders to provide the necessary supplies, equipment, and technology for hospitals to treat their patients in times of drastic need. No one should ever have to decide between who gets a ventilator. Nurses have had to look their patients in the eye and decide who gets the medical equipment to treat them, and who has to suffer in pain. 

Throughout this pandemic, everyone’s lives have been turned upside down and then flipped around some more. No one saw this coming – no one thought our lives would end up this way. I forget what it was like to be able to see everyone’s faces in the grocery store or have family gatherings on holidays and be able to hug them. Now both of those things seem like a luxury. I am not sure when this will all be over, and I am not sure what life will be like when it does. But one thing that I know for sure is that this pandemic has made me admire nursing so much more. My perspective on nurses has completely shifted and I believe even more so that they are truly life’s biggest superheroes in scrubs.