Georgia Nurse Who Quit During Facebook Rant Now Regrets Leaving Her Job
Melissa Thomas Scott, a Georgia nurse is regretting her decision to quit her job after being assigned on a floor where patients tested positive for COVID-19.
The mother of four is a breast cancer survivor who went viral last week after she took to social media in an act of frustration and desperation to vent her feelings. Now, Scott is speaking with Tamron Hall on IG Live (which has replaced her usual daytime talk show) explaining that she “reacted out of stress.”
Working as a nurse for three years, Scott says that she does wish that she handled the situation differently.
“I worked hard for my nursing degree, of course I don’t want to just give up nursing and I love where I work,” she said. “I doubt that they are going to let me come back and I do regret how I handled it. You’re not thinking clearly when you’re upset.”
Scott walked out of Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, Georgia which had been the most impacted facility in the state with more than 350 patients battling the novel coronavirus.
“I quit! I care about the patients and all but my kids and my life, they matter, they come first,” she stated in the video. “My manager sent me to the floor that’s being tested for corona. She knows my health history. She knows all of this.”
With her husband working out of state, Moore expressed how she was deeply concerned that she would have to return back to her children after her shift risking potential exposure.
“My kids don’t have anybody to go to while they’re here. I can’t send my kids away like everybody else,” she said.
She later revealed in the rant that she continues to visit her oncologist every three months and had been advised not to visit floors holding coronavirus patients.
Scott shared on the "Tamron Hall Show" that with the nationwide shortage of protective personal equipment, all hospital staff is being required to reuse the same gowns and masks throughout their entire shift.
“I regret how I handled it if I would have remained calm and just thought it through I wouldn’t be here right now,” she said.
As for her message to health care workers who might be at their breaking point:
“What we are going through right now, it’s very important and we need all the help that we can get in the healthcare field to combat this pandemic. But at some point, your life matters, your health matters, your family matters.”
“Show compassion in situations, act like you care about your colleagues and we can get through this together. There is a way to handle things.”
Watch the clip between Tamron Hall and Melissa Thomas Scott below:
For the latest on the coronavirus, check out BET’s blog on the virus, and contact your local health department or visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
