Health care workers who are faced with suffering and death every day are pleading for more people to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Working in critical care at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center, registered nurse Jordan Mento deals frequently with life and death. However, Mento says it took on a new meaning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Everyone in our unit was on a ventilator.  They were on a breathing tube and on full life support,” says Mento. "It was very personal.  I held the hand of too many people when they were taking their last breath."

Mento says that due to COVID-19 regulations, nurses had to make important decisions and sometimes advocate for patients in the absence of family. 

Small victories became bigger during the pandemic and every patient who went home was a reason to celebrate.

Mento is pleading for everyone to get the vaccine.

"I'm hopeful that people will think about people other than themselves. Think about neighbors, friends, family, and think about us. Because you may not get a vaccine - but if you end up in the hospital on a ventilator, I'm still going to give you care and take care of you,” says Mento.

Mento says her ICU is now seeing more young people with the Delta variant of COVID-19. 

They’re also encountering an increase in people who had to put off treatment for other conditions due to the pandemic and are now coming in sicker than they should be.