Leader of military nurses in Alberta hospital stays focused: ‘Do what you need to do’

Maj. Amy Godwin, 38, is leading a team of eight nurses as part of the Canadian Armed Forces Operation LASER at Edmonton's Royal Alexandra Hospital.

A senior military nurse who has been deployed to Alberta to help overworked hospital staff caring for COVID-19 patients says she hopes to see the day when people’s smiling faces will replace masks, and family and friends will be able to gather safely.

Maj. Amy Godwin, 38, is leading a team of eight nurses as part of the Canadian Armed Forces Operation LASER at Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital.

“The province of Alberta requested Canadian Armed Forces (help) in the COVID surge that is currently ongoing,” said Godwin during an interview in the lobby of the hotel where she’s staying for a month with her team.

She asked that the name of the hotel not be published due to safety concerns.

There are more than 18,000 active cases of COVID-19 in Alberta, down from a peak of about 22,000.

While the number of people in hospital and ICU admissions remain at all-time highs, hospitalizations, cases and critical care patients have been either plateauing or receding slightly.

Public Safety Canada has said the Canadian Red Cross is also planning to send up to 20 medical professionals, some with intensive care experience, to augment or relieve staff.

“There are no longer any hospitals in the Canadian Armed Forces so … for our nurses to get acute and critical experience they need, we work in partnership with other civilian hospitals,” said the uniformed Godwin.