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Housekeepers the 'hidden heroes' keeping patients, doctors safe during COVID-19 pandemic

The hidden heroes at Coliseum Medical Centers and Coliseum Northside Hospital make sure the patients' rooms stay sanitary and safe.

MACON, Ga. — We've seen doctors, nurses, and other health professionals working hard in hospitals to treat and protect COVID-19 patients, but who protects the health professionals? Who makes sure their hospital environment is safe?

It's the housekeeping staff, the hidden heroes at Coliseum Medical Centers and Coliseum Northside Hospital who make sure the patients' rooms stay sanitary and safe. That means cleaning every room twice a day, including the bathrooms. 

 "We let the patients know exactly what we're doing. That creates that comfort level," says housekeeping director for Coliseum Northside Hospital, David Abrams.

Abrams says the cleaning extends beyond the patient rooms to the work stations for nurses and doctors. Even the floors are sanitized daily.

Abrams says, "What we do is done with the utmost integrity and done with a passion because we know lives are at stake."

Housekeepers like Katrina Burrell are dealing with a whole new level of cleaning since the pandemic started.

"It really, really has changed. I'm trying to wipe down everything and sanitize everything -- sanitize every day, high and low for the nurses, the doctors, and for the patients," she said.

The housekeeping staff may not get the attention the nurses and doctors do, but it's the small recognition that help keep the team's spirit high.

"We get letters from patients who not only recognize doctors for their excellent work, not only recognize our nursing staff for their help, they recognize the housekeeping team, the mention my housekeepers by name," beams Abrams, which is pretty special knowing you're an important part of a lifesaving team.

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