by: Cody Long

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG) — As more COVID-19 patients fill hospital rooms, nurses are in high demand and Fortis Institute in Pensacola is preparing its graduates for what’s to come including the emotional toll it takes on healthcare workers.

Fortis saw incoming applications double during the pandemic which took many school leaders by surprise. Every 12 weeks they are graduating students and sending them to work in the healthcare field.

“They are my heroes,” said Dr. Lisa Carwie, Dean of Nursing at Fortis Institute in Pensacola.

2020 was the year of the nurse and that may continue as we see more surges in COVID-19 cases and the number of people hospitalized.

“We had numbers of our graduates that dropped everything and went to New York and went to New Orleans and went to these epicenters that were just overrun with COVID patients and I couldn’t be any prouder of them,” Dr. Carwie said.

Dr. Carwie said it’s been challenging during the pandemic and it’s changed the way nursing students are learning.

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