Our First Responders: Nicole Michels

By theadmin

Nicole Michels’ job as a paramedic in Houston has always meant long hours, high intensity, and high stakes.

At the beginning of the pandemic, her call volume dropped. Then, it rose again.

When COVID-19 first hit Texas in March, people were trying to stay out of the hospital, but they were nervous. “I would get calls saying, ‘I don’t want to go to the hospital, but will you come check it out?’” Michels says.

And she would — but she’d have to stay 6 feet away and out of their houses. Michels used to interact with patients wearing gloves. Now, she wears at minimum gloves, a mask, goggles, and a gown on every call. For CPR calls, or when she has to touch the patient, she wears a full Tyvek suit and a respirator along with her PPE.

“Thankfully, as soon as the pandemic started, my job was very proactive. They put protocols in place to keep us safe and provided all the extra PPE we needed,” Michels says. “People have been so understanding about that, so that’s been a good thing; they’ve been receptive toward it.”

Michels saw up close how dangerous the virus could be, as she answered an increasing number of calls from COVID-19 patients.

“It’s so different from flu, and I’ve had lots of patients with flu,” she says. “This is a lot more intense. So that’s been different. But you walk into work and you have to be ready for anything.”

As the paramedic in charge of her ambulance, Michels has to be ready to call the shots no matter what situation they confront.

“Some days, you’re riding with another paramedic, and you can bounce ideas off each other; other days, you’re on your own,” Michels says. “That’s the hard part about it sometimes. Sometimes, your patients are so sick, and they’re saying, ‘Help me, help me, help me,’ and you’re saying, ‘Just hang on, we’ll get you there.’ They’re literally in your hands before you can get to a hospital and get to a doctor.”

For emergency responders, the pandemic has brought added strain to an already high-stakes job.

“We’re tired just because it’s so much more than what we’re used to,” she says. “You’re sweating more, you’re yelling at each other because you can’t hear as well through the suits. It’s more intense, physically and emotionally. It’s an adjustment,” she says. “And it’s for our safety.”

These were burdens and risks that Michels, along with her husband, Ryan, had to avoid bringing home. She’d change her clothes before coming home from work, not wanting to touch her kids wearing them. Her son, 6, was supposed to start kindergarten this year, but the Michelses chose to homeschool.

“That’s been the most significant impact,” she says. “My kid wants to go to school. He says, ‘Mommy, when’s the virus going to be over?’ And I have to say, ‘Honey, I don’t know.’”

The Michelses balance their shifts and rely on their parents to help with babysitting him and their 2-year-old, juggling homeschooling and coming up with socially distanced activities.

“It’s been difficult, because he can understand what’s going on, but not fully,” she says. “I never thought I’d have to talk to my kids about viruses, or school shootings. I don’t want to have to talk about that.”

Michels is grateful now that they’ve kept him home, since area schools have been shutting down due to a rise in cases. “That’s the uncertainty I didn’t want to deal with. We have a routine; we know what we’re doing.”

“We have a routine; we know what we’re doing.“

How long that routine will have to last is still unclear. Michels predicts that even with a vaccine hopefully on the horizon, we’ll be wearing masks for a few more years. At work, she may continue to even once the pandemic is contained. She says no one in her department has contracted the virus, which shows that the equipment is working.

“My work protocols will be in place until a vaccine or something else changes,” she says. “I foresee this for the long
haul, and they’ve done a very good job of keeping us safe.”

As long as Michels is on the job, she’ll be keeping Houston safe.

Nicole Michels is a Texas Farm Bureau member. Dainna Bunch, a Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Agent in Houston, nominated her for this series. Read about our other first responders, Samuel Askins, Kirk Burnett, Ryan Michels, Brigette Munoz, Delaney Sweeney, and Brent Tymrak.