Hundreds of frontline medical professionals have reached out to KAILU through our Sleep Better/Thank You Hero program, seeking comfort while they risk their own well-being to care for COVID-19 patients. Doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals tell us what they’ve been facing.

The stakes are at their highest and the stress is coming in unrelenting waves. Helping a struggling patient breathe while trying to safely breathe the same air is a huge sacrifice — not to mention extremely stressful on the health care professionals involved.

Nurse Myers, of Washington state, described feeling “very down” being a frontline caregiver and treating COVID-19 patients. “All of the uncertainty and fear of this new illness….” she says. “I was feeling especially sad the day I received my new duvet.”

Since April 15, when we introduced our Sleep Better/Thank You Hero program — asking the public to donate our Heritage Duvets to help medical professionals experience the sleep they need and deserve, and offering special prices directly to verified health care professionals, respectively — about 1,000 people have reached out to KAILU asking for donations, discounts, and even just words of comfort.

“Your handwritten note was like someone reaching out and hugging me!” Nurse Myers said of the message included with her Heritage Duvet. “The fabric is so luxurious. The green floral bags are really cool. And then last night’s sleep — it is the perfect weight and warmth! I still feel very thankful when I make my bed or I snuggle in at night.” 

We’ve received countless stories of sleeplessness, selflessness, and sacrifice — the single mom who works as a nurse on the front line and homeschools her children, the EMT who lives at a hotel so as not to risk exposing his family, the nursing home administrator putting together care packages for overworked staff, and so many more — making it virtually impossible to choose who receives donations. Unable to decide who is more deserving, we’ve drawn at random.

One recipient was Nurse Kris Soleta, who works in Southern California and is a recipient of N95 masks donated through the public’s KAILU gift card purchases: “My husband and I are so overwhelmed with people’s kindness. We’re both nurses, and we had to reuse our masks for days. The masks were a little loose for me, but they fit my husband perfectly, and he can use them in the coronavirus units. It is such a big help!”

A donated Heritage Duvet is also on its way to Dr. Hope Taitt, an emergency medicine and internal medicine resident in New York City, which was once the U.S. epicenter of the outbreak. “My sleep has gotten better as COVID-19 decreased substantially in the area,” she says, mentioning she’s worried about a second wave of infections. “Unfortunately, many patients died [during the first wave], but we were able to send home quite a few to be with their families once they were on the mend.”

If you’d like to support a health care professional, KAILU’s Sleep Better program is ongoing, running while supplies last. Together, we can bring comfort and support to our frontline heroes.