I received this from Aviator Doc earlier this evening. He has been slammed for days, working eight or nine days at a stretch, all 12-hour shifts. He wrote this in the precious few minutes of down time he has. He said he was too busy to post a diary, and that if it seemed good, that I should post it for him. The following is what he wrote, verbatim with no changes or editing. I did not blockquote it in order to make it easier to read.
by Aviator Doc:
“Heroes... everyone keeps telling me I'm a hero, because I am an Emergency physician, facing some difficult circumstances right now.
But...I don't feel like a hero, because I'm doing a job I love, and this is what I signed up for.
Heroes. Hmm...
I've been thinking a lot about this.
Everyone is alarmed, and focusing on the freedoms and things that we've lost, but I was reminded of something Fred Rogers, creator of Mister Rogers Neighborhood said: "Always look for the helpers".
Did you know that you are literally surrounded by heroes right now? It's true.
Heroes are:
- -The firefighters, law enforcement officers, and EMS crews who will come face to face today with people who are, or may be infected, and they are not wearing protective gear.
- -Healthcare workers who get up every day and work, knowing that, sooner or later, they will most likely get infected. That's every one of them.
- -The home health nurses, who are going out across this country right now to walk into patient's homes.
- -The respiratory therapists who will have to be face to face with this disease for months.
- -Triage nurses in every ED in the world, who will see virtually every infected person who seeks treatment.
- -Environmental Services workers, who have to clean and sanitize the rooms where the infection is splattered everywhere.
- -Nurses, God love them, who will care for all the infected, in addition to all the other myriad varieties of sickness and injuries that they deal with every other day. They are the backbone, and the beating hearts of our healthcare system. Love them, pray for them, support them.
- -Physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, like the two ER docs who contracted COVID19 at work, and are now in critical condition on ventilators.
- -Moms, taking care of families that now have children out of school indefinitely, especially the ones who have to work and take care of everyone else.
- -Small business owners, who are doing the right thing, even in the face of probable economic disaster.
- -Clerks, cashiers and checkers who are facing hundreds of people at stores and businesses everywhere, being cheerful and pleasant, when people are panicked and rude...and maybe infected.
YOU can be a hero, too.
--There are going to be a lot of people in quarantine. See if they need food, supplies and, yes, TOILET PAPER. Deliver it to them.
--Older people are at highest risk, and many of them are afraid to shop. Call and see if you can do it for them.
--Check on shut ins. Call them. Facetime them. We are social animals. We need human contact. Reach out to people in quarantine or isolation, especially the ones without anyone staying with them. Loneliness is a disease too.
--The people working in emergency rooms, fire stations, law enforcement, are all going to be working very long hours, and may not have time to get food. Some families here brought a bunch of pizza to the hospital and fed both shifts in my Emergency Department yesterday, and that was amazing.
--Small business owners are being hammered. Support them. Buy gift certificates from them if you can. They'll make great Christmas gifts, and will help them keep the lights on until this blows over.
--If you are home with kids, have them draw pictures, cards and notes, and drop them off at local nursing homes. Nursing homes are currently locked down and they aren't seeing their families. Brighten up their day.
Come up with your own plan to be an everyday hero.
We all need heroes right now.
Be a hero.
Tuesday, Mar 17, 2020 · 2:30:56 PM +00:00 · Otteray Scribe
Aviator Doc wrote this as a comment. Reposting it here so it won’t get lost in all the comments below:
Good morning, everyone.
Thanks for the kind words. I’m flipping from day shift to night shift today. so I’ll be climbing in the bed after lunch for a power nap before I go in.
We are being clogged with people wanting testing, even though literally every channel (Even Faux News) is advising them to STAY AWAY, and call their local hotline. I do admit though, my favorite was the lady who wanted to be tested because “there are a lot of bats where I stay at.” I explained to her that unless she was planning on eating any of them, she probably wasn’t going to be getting it. At least not that way, anyhow.
We are still very early in this thing’s progression, and in spite of the government’s fantastically blundered response, we are mobilizing on a huge level to meet this. I am hopeful, but realistic. Hope for the best, prepared for the worst, and the reality will probably hit somewhere in between. Where it lands is going to depend on how well we flatten the curve.
Good luck everyone, and stay safe.