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Nurse’s flu rant goes viral

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG) — Katherine Lockler, or Kat as she’s known to her patients, is an energetic nurse and mother of four who found herself in her car recording a Facebook video after a 12-hour night shift.

“Wash your stinkin’ hands so you don’t get all your babies sick,” she said in the video.

Lockler spoke to WISH-TV’s sister station WKRG Thursday nearly a week after she made the post. In the video posted to her page, she also tells of an entire sports team who showed up to the ER when one player got sick. She says that not only exposed the other players, but everyone they come into contact with.

“I was frustrated and wanted to share my thoughts and my thoughts weren’t out of anger but frustration that people will get the flu unnecessarily,” she said.

The video has gone viral which is something she prefers much more than a viral infection.

The nurse from Milton in Santa Rosa County has received hundreds of messages from around the world and she’s still shocked as the number climbs.

“I just giggle,” she said. “I go and smack my husband on the shoulder and go ‘Look, look, can you believe this?”

Lockler said a major issue has been patients going into the emergency room for something they could’ve gone to a clinic for. By going to the hospital, they’re exposing themselves to the flu. In part of the video, she says “there is a cesspool of funky flu at the ER right now. Please don’t bring your team in. Please don’t bring your healthy children in especially your newborn babies into the emergency room. And if you don’t have what I would call a true emergency, this would not be the time to come to the emergency room.”

“Watch this. I’m going to teach you a magic trick. It’s amazing,” she said as she then pretends to sneeze into her arm.

While she did it with a little bit of humor, Lockler said she’s happy just to educate others on how easily the flu can spread especially in hospitals.

The nurse says some people didn’t like her tone but she wouldn’t do it any differently.

“I might’ve offended people but it went viral and good information, maybe because of the way I said it, has gotten to people who might not have gotten it.”

She’s talking about getting T-shirts made that say “Wash your stinkin’ hands!” which now seems to be Kat’s catchphrase.

Her common sense advice is resonating with people across the country. Her post has been shared nearly 60,000 times and the video views are over 3 million.