Front-Line Nurses Have Own Anxieties

Before heading to her night shift at Virtua Memorial Hospital in Mount Holly last week, Krystal Horchuck listened to her three young children laughing with her husband in another room.

The sound of her happy family—the people she loves most—are how the Burlington County nurse copes with the anxiety that comes with being a health care worker during the global coronavirus pandemic.

“I think I have a different level of anxiety than I’ve ever had,” Horchuck said. “I’ve been having headaches every day, not sleeping. I’m scared to bring [coronavirus] home to our kids.”

Regardless, she’s committed to helping her patients.

“Even though I feel an overwhelming heaviness as I walk through the ER…I know I have committed myself to be there for the community, my peers, my friends, my second family,” she said.

Nurses across the state spoke with…