Item
Yang Rose Oral History, 2021/04/11
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Yang Rose Oral History, 2021/04/11
Description (Dublin Core)
Rose Yang is a dental assistant and licensed realtor in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Rose is interviewed by Kristopher Strebe in regard to her work, personal life, and role as a healthcare provider during the pandemic. Rose goes into depth about her jobs’ protocols against the pandemic and defends why she believes that pandemic will never be truly over for health officials working in healthcare.
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
Creator (Dublin Core)
Type (Dublin Core)
Video
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
English
Emotion
English
Healthcare
English
Home & Family Life
English
Public Health & Hospitals
English
Health & Wellness
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
Contributor's Tags (a true folksonomy) (Friend of a Friend)
Collection (Dublin Core)
Collecting Institution (Bibliographic Ontology)
Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis
Curatorial Notes (Dublin Core)
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
12/06/2021
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
04/25/2022
06/21/2023
06/26/2023
Date Created (Dublin Core)
04/11/2021
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Kristopher Stebe
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Rose Yang
Location (Omeka Classic)
53005
Brookfield
Wisconsin
United States of America
Format (Dublin Core)
Audio
Language (Dublin Core)
English
Duration (Omeka Classic)
00:46:32
abstract (Bibliographic Ontology)
Rose Yang is a dental assistant and licensed realtor in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Rose is interviewed by Kristopher Strebe in regard to her work, personal life, and role as a healthcare provider during the pandemic. Rose goes into depth about her jobs’ protocols against the pandemic and defends why she believes that pandemic will never be truly over for health officials working in healthcare.
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
Kristopher Strebe 00:00
We are recording. My name is Kristopher Strebe and I am here with Rose Yang and Elise Schrader. The date is April 11 2021. The time is 3pm Central. Rose is in Brookfield, Wisconsin, Elise is in Indianapolis, Indiana, and I am in Janesville, Wisconsin. Rose, I want to briefly review the informed consent and deed of gift document that you signed.
Rose Yang 00:29
Mhm.
Kristopher Strebe 00:30
This interview is for the COVID-19 Oral History Project, which is associated with A Journal of the Plague Year: An COVID-19 Archive. The COVID-19 Oral History Project is a rapid response oral history focused on archiving the lived experience of the COVID-19 epidemic. We have designed this project so that professional researchers in the broader public can create and upload their oral histories to our open access and open-source database. This study will help us collect narratives and understandings about COVID-19 as well as help us better understand the impacts of the pandemic over time. The recordings demographic information and the verbatim transcripts will be deposited in A Journal of the Plague Year: An COVID-19 Archive and the Indiana University Library System for the use of researchers and the general public. Do you have any questions about the project that I can answer?
Rose Yang 01:28
No, no, no we can get started. Mhm.
Kristopher Strebe 01:31
Okay, well, we got a bit more stuff like this. And then...
Rose Yang 01:34
Okay, hahaha.
Kristopher Strebe 01:37
Yeah, yeah. Taking part in this study is voluntary. You may choose not to take part or you may leave the study at any time. Leaving the study will not result in any penalty or loss of benefits to which you are entitled. Your decision whether or not to participate in the study will not affect your current or future relations with Indiana University IUPUI or the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute. participating in this project means that your interviews will be recorded in digital video and or audio format, maybe transcribed. The recordings and possible transcriptions of the interviews, copies of any supplement supplementary documents or additional photos that you wish to share. And the informed consent and deed-of-gifts may be deposited in An Journal of the Plague Year: An COVID-19 Archive in the Indiana University Library System and will be available to both researchers and the general public. Your name and other means of identification will not be confidential. Do you have any questions?
Rose Yang 02:43
No.
Kristopher Strebe 02:45
Okay, one more segment here. In addition to your signed document, would you please offer a verbal confirmation that you understand and agree to the following terms. I'm asking that you verbally confirm that you have agreed that your interview will be made available under the following license. And you had the second option, The COVID-19 Oral History Project, Rhe Journal of the Plague Year: An COVID-19 Archive, and the trustees of Indiana University acting through its agents employees or representatives have an unlimited right to reproduce, use exhibit display, perform broadcasts, create derivative works from, and distribute the oral history materials in any manner or media now existing or hereafter developed in perpetuity throughout the world. If you agree that the oral history materials may be used by the voices from the waterways and IU including its science and transferees for any purpose, including but not limited to marketing, advertising, publicity or other promotional purposes. You agree that IU will have final editorial authority over the use of the oral history materials, and waive any right to inspect or approve of any future use of the oral history materials. Moreover, you agree that the public has the right to use the materials under the terms of fair use US Copyright Law Section 107 of the US Copyright Act. Do you agree?
Rose Yang 04:21
I agree.
Kristopher Strebe 04:22
Okay. And finally, I want to ask for a verbal confirmation that you have agreed that your interviews will be made available to the public immediately. Do you agree?
Rose Yang 04:33
I agree. My guess my...
Kristopher Strebe 04:35
Gongratulations. You've made the laundry list of legalese here. So I think to get us started with the interview, we can just start with a little background information. So, if you'd like to just tell us a bit about yourself, you know, your family or where you're from what you d?
Rose Yang 04:58
Okay? My family we came from Thailand. We came...I came with my family in 1988. I was eleven years old. I went to a middle high school to college and now that I'm working full-time as you think and part-time licensed realtor. Yeah, I'm self-employed part-time and I'm working in a dental office full-time.
Kristopher Strebe 05:36
So like, could you tell us more and like what are the primary things then that you do day to day for your work?
Rose Yang 05:42
Oh well, because our COVID-19, going to work is...never normal again, you know? It's so different now because we have to work in in the office we have to double mask, especially me I'm just speaking behalf of me, we have a can KN95 and surgical mask. So, I usually put our surgical mask overfirst and then KN95 over. So the surgical one is disposable between patient and we have to change your lab coat too between patient because of the aerosols, the handpiece that we draw that it splashes aerosol in the room so we need to change really...we need to practice probably better than ever, you know? Because we want everyone to be saved. We try our best you know and we have...I don't know what you would call like a dehumidifier for COVID-19. We have that kind of machine run 24 hours during the office too. As a realtor, now, again, it depends, but every shown that I go through we have to put our mask. We want my buyers. my seller to be safe, and we provide...if I'm listing the property, I have to provide mask inside the room. Just in case somebody walk in...our agent without mask or he or she bring in their client without mask. So we need to provide masks and gloves, just so that they touch anything, it's good to be safe again. So, it like life now is totally different than the pre-pandemic
Kristopher Strebe 07:38
So, with the dental, can you just tell us like what your normal day to day jobs and would be before the pandemic? Just... Um, yeah yeah. What would you do and what it's like um...all that type of stuff?
Rose Yang 07:51
Sure. Before pandemic, the job, that dental teaching job. We just wear surgical mask and we come in with our uniform and we're going home with our uniform. It's not like that anymore...
Kristopher Strebe 08:06
What is a dental assistant do? Like what are your your jobs as a dental assistant?
Rose Yang 08:11
My job. My job, excuse me...you're teaching a doctor, if we do filling with a doctor, I hand him all the [inaudible] he need to finish after mine, you know? And if we do crown, I set up his system, everything from beginning procedure any procedure that I'm assisting with the doctor, I helped him from the beginning to the end. And then dismiss the patient and bring new one in...into the room. Yeah, that's how I...my position, yeah.
Kristopher Strebe 08:45
So you're helping him you know, assisting him with, like the different tools that he needs?
Rose Yang 08:50
Yes, yes. Like, I'm basically his right-hand person, you know? So...a lot of time, we are training to do the doctor's duties, to the extent what we call expanded duties. You know, like advance procedures like...if she's not, well, we're not allowed to drill in her mouth because its an advance procedure to me like, especially with partients for partial or denture, usually the doctor does it, you know, because we're trained as a part of our advance expanded duty, they teach and we do that. Yeah, we do some of the expanded duties from the doctor.
Kristopher Strebe 09:34
So, it takes time off of his hands, right?
Rose Yang 09:36
Mhm.
Kristopher Strebe 09:42
So, and how long have you how long have you been? Oh, and so this is so for clarity. This is an East Side Dental, right, in Milwaukee?
Rose Yang 09:50
Yes, yeah. Yes.
Kristopher Strebe 09:52
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, right? So how long have you been doing that? How long have you been working there?
Rose Yang 10:00
Um...almost. July 10th will be my 16 years.
Kristopher Strebe 10:05
16 years, wow.
Rose Yang 10:06
Almost 16 years now...
Kristopher Strebe 10:13
So, when did things...so let's go back to that. How...when did you first start hearing about the the that there may be this pandemic? That there's um...this virus going around, when did like when what time period did you first start hearing about it and...
Rose Yang 10:33
Well...because we are health care providers, and we need to be up to date to anything that's going on in public, you know, so we usually call in to ADA, you know, or Wisconsin Dental Association, you know? We called all those associations. And they had guidance for us, for my office, for, uh..., all the dental office to follow. That's what we found out. And, um..., the moment that everything shut down, the office closed. Then, again, we're following [unknown] dental association; their guidelines shut down the company. And when the new guidelines came out, then we reopened. I mean, we opened in the pandemic, too, just for emergency visits, you know, so that we can relieve our ER, you know. Because a lot of time people in pain, they go and end up in ER, and, uh..., the doctors over at the ER cannot do extraction or a major procedure. So they still ended up referring the patient back to a dental office. And that's where we come in, and we do the stuff that we have to do to relieve the patient's pain. And we're open only for emergencies during the pandemic, the beginning of shutdown, or all the shutdowns. And then—
Kristopher Strebe 12:09
I think we're getting some lag here.
Rose Yang 12:22
Time when we reopen again everything that was...- What was that?
Kristopher Strebe 12:28
I think we're..., the audio is cutting out again. Do you want to try, um..., turning it off?
Rose Yang 12:34
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, like, on and off, like, yeah, it's on and off. I don't know how we fix it. I think we can just go on and if I cannot hear your question, you'll just have to repeat it for me.
Kristopher Strebe 12:47
Okay. Let's try turning cameras off, though. Just if it helps with, um...-
Rose Yang 12:54
Okay.
Kristopher Strebe 12:55
A little bit with, like, the..., so I'm going to turn mine off.
Rose Yang 12:57
Okay.
Kristopher Strebe 12:57
I think it'd help if you turned yours off as well.
Rose Yang 13:14
Yeah, I'm trying to.
Kristopher Strebe 13:15
Okay. In a normal world, you know, we'd be doing it face to face; we wouldn't have this..., this problem.
Rose Yang 13:43
I cannot find my button of, um..., face turn off.
Kristopher Strebe 13:49
I think it will be in the bottom left hand, um..., of the..., there's kind of the menu bar down there.
Rose Yang 13:55
Oh, yeah, I saw it. Yeah, I found it. Yeah, there you go. Okay.
Kristopher Strebe 14:05
And so, you're talking about, that you remained open even during the—the shutdown?
Rose Yang 14:11
Yes.
Kristopher Strebe 14:12
For, like, ER purposes.
Rose Yang 14:13
Yes. Uh-huh. Yes. And in most of the office, most dental offices, they do not, or they did not, open. So, we were kind of, like, not super busy, but were going to make sure social distancing of six feet apply too, now. Again, this is, like, WDA guideline. So we, if we have a patient running late and they arrive in the outside, we want to make sure they call us, and make sure that we finish it –whatever we do, the patient that we had in the office. So with this method, the patient, that we can call the one from outside waiting in the car to come in. So that's how we did it in the beginning, so that there's the other patient, they don't see each other for social distance, for safety.
Kristopher Strebe 15:09
And so, were these patients, were they people who were normal patients or, you know, preexisting patients that would regularly come into the office or are they, like?
Rose Yang 15:22
No, during the pandemic, we open during the pandemic, the normal patient, they don't come. We rescheduled everything, we cancel all our schedules, all our appointments. Everything was cancelled, rescheduled, but we don't know - we kind of, like, uh..., we check that hopefully, um..., WDA guideline will be changing in, like, two months. You know, so we rescheduled a further two months just to see how things are. And if by that, or by then, two months came down, and then these guidelines that the WDA, um..., it's still not up to open regular, then we push it further. You know, further to another two months or three months. That's how we do it. And they understand, the patients, the families, they're very understanding. And they want to make sure that we follow guidelines, we make sure that they all stay safe, too. So, they had no complaint every time we rescheduled them.
Kristopher Strebe 16:23
Hmph. So, like, how long was this going on then, where it was sort of, um..., you called it ER?
Rose Yang 16:33
Um..., so you know the pandemic, which started in March?
Kristopher Strebe 16:37
Mn-hmm.
Rose Yang 16:37
March of 2020. And from March to May, that is for emergency visits only, and any regular patient we rescheduled. So, the day after Memorial Day, on May, that is we opened it back [inaudible]. But we were having Team A and Team B, because we have three doctors, and, uh..., the oldest doctor, who is Dr. Galka, who is the owner. We kinda like close [inaudible] our patient, temporarily. We have two younger doctors, and we divide to a Team A and Team B. And we worked twelve-hour shifts. So, starting on a Wednesday, then—then, Team A started Wednesday to the following Tuesday, okay? Then Team B pick up from that Wednesday to the following Tuesday. So, we worked a twelve-hour shift.
Kristopher Strebe 17:45
What would it, what was a normal, what is a normal shift?
Rose Yang 17:52
The normal is from eight to five. That's the normal.
Kristopher Strebe 17:56
Okay, yeah. So, was it always, then, very busy during this time, or…
Rose Yang 18:02
Yeah, during that time, and, you know, like, because I worked twelve-hour shift and I got one week off. And that one week, um..., I'm not really off. I am, like, um..., you know, like, ordering stuff from home, too. I worked from home, too. You know, I have a computer with a [unknown] program on the, on the, uh..., little tablet. We have a tablet, like a Microsoft tablet, that I, that I bought home from work. And we have same schedule, connects everything in there. And team logistics, because I'm in Team A, I'm taking my break, a week from home, Team B is working full twelve-hour shifts for one week. They need supplies ordered. They're not at home to order the supplies for them, too, you know. If they're short, they text me, they message me. We have a messaging system, too. So, the other team would message me, uh..., and then I will get the order from home, right? And at that time, we were short on masks, and short on gloves. And during that one week off that I had, I called and do the research, calling companies where, uh..., where I can get those stuff to the office, you know, and the week that I work, then Team B is off, and one person from Team B is doing the orders. And then my Team A - we need something - I have to message the team, uh..., the person on Team B to get the supplies for us. So we kind of rotated like this so that, um..., we balanced out our working hours, too.
Kristopher Strebe 19:56
You mentioned getting supplies. So, was that pretty difficult then? And, um..., did the government at all help or provide with supplies?
Rose Yang 20:08
Could you, like—hold on? I'm kind of, like, cut off here. Could you repeat your question again?
Kristopher Strebe 20:15
Yeah, certainly. You mentioned...so getting supplies, was that pretty difficult to do?
Rose Yang 20:24
Yeah, at the beginning, yes, but not anymore now. You know, at the beginning because, um..., healthcare providers, like a big hospital, they were the frontline, they were the first priority - the masks and gloves - to ship it to, you know. We're, like, bottom line, you know? How bottom, I don't know, but then every time I call for the order, they say, "No, we're out of the masks and the gloves," because they are shipping it to big hospitals, you know. So if I placed orders, we..., it's going to be..., they don't know when it's going to come in. So they recommend that I, once a week, I call in just to see where the supply level is, and then we just go from there.
Kristopher Strebe 21:13
So, did you ever run out of anything, then?
Rose Yang 21:15
Oh, not completely. But short—
Kristopher Strebe 21:17
Not completely?
Rose Yang 21:18
I—a little nervous, you know? Never completely. But, like I said, short. A little short and a little nervous. Especially, I'm doing the order and that's a big responsibility, too. And another person that's on Team B, she..., again, she was very nervous, too. So both of us communicated with each other just to see, um..., what company that we found out that has lots of supplies and we should go get from there, and then go on from there.
Kristopher Strebe 21:58
So once, um..., this period was over, so how have things then..., um..., kind of transitioned, do you feel, um..., to where they are now? Um..., how close do you think...? What am I trying to say here? Um..., you had mentioned..., so, like, after May, Memorial Day it went...-
Rose Yang 22:23
Yeah, that's when we opened for going back to the regular patients.
Kristopher Strebe 22:29
And so how was that, maybe, how did that work? And what was it like? You know, different...-
Rose Yang 22:35
Okay, so we're, again, when we come back from [unknown] open to regular patient, for cleaning, for our existing patient schedule, um..., we, again, we were in Team A and Team B. We were doing from May to August, to see how things go, for that, for all this shit. But then, one doctor, because he is just sitting twelve hours on a chair, he's leaning too much in the [unknown], and he hurts one of his leg. But his mom is, like, a physical therapist, so she [unknown]. His mom is telling him to do some, uh..., stretches out and some exercise, just to, um..., uh..., you know, get his, uh..., his leg back to normal. You know, he told me that. And it was super hard to, I..., if I need to go, if I have a choice, I don't want to go back through all this shit. You know?
Kristopher Strebe 23:41
Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't blame you on that.
Rose Yang 23:45
Yeah, it's hard. Because once, the moment I came home, from twelve-hour shift, I cannot do anything because I'm too tired. You know? So, my husband did all the work, you know? So, I'm glad that it was over when we get to August, you know? From May to August, then the Team A, Team B were over. And then we were, like, um..., normal schedule, not really normal, our schedule—schedule changes without a [unknown] instead of age, you know?
Kristopher Strebe 24:19
So, you mentioned home life, and your husband did more homework. So, could you tell me a bit of just about, like, how has the...the pandemic and, you know, how did it affect you and your, um..., your day-to-day life at home? How did it change things?
Rose Yang 24:36
Well, because of the schedule of work that I had, you know, like, the twelve-hour shift that I had, it does really affect my family and, um..., and my husband, he..., he works from home, you know, because everything shut down, his company shut down. He worked from home. I mean, still now, he's still working from home.
Kristopher Strebe 24:59
What is—what does he do for work?
Rose Yang 25:01
He is—well, he's a software engineer for Kohl's.
Kristopher Strebe 25:08
Okay. So that, was that online before, or did it become...-
Rose Yang 25:13
No, he used to go, before pandemic, he—he went to work at the company in Menominee Falls for the headquarter in Menominee Falls. He'd go there, get on a computer every day in there. But then, during the pandemic, everything closed down, he came home, and work from home. I mean, um..., today he still works from home. So, during the pandemic, during my shift, he does - he cooks, he cleans, he took care of the kid - I cannot do any of that until the week that I'm off.
Kristopher Strebe 25:34
So, then, you kind of took turns, then, and back and forth during the week, like, one week...-
Rose Yang 25:52
Yeah.
Kristopher Strebe 25:56
So, has that been, like, was..., has that been stressful at home then? Or has there been tension? Or has it, just..., things worked out?
Rose Yang 26:04
I…I don't know if stress is the right word to call, you know? I..., because see, we are, you know, do what we can, you know, uh..., do what we can. He is..., my husband is helping me as best he can, because he understands working in the healthcare is...it's affecting the life, and he is trying to adapt to my schedule, and try to help me, get me through all this.
Kristopher Strebe 26:37
Then you mentioned your children. How many children do you have?
Rose Yang 26:41
I have four. I have two boys and two girls.
Kristopher Strebe 26:44
How..., about how old are they?
Rose Yang 26:46
Nineteen…eleven, seven..., hold on...nineteen, eleven, eight and seven.
Kristopher Strebe 27:02
So, how've have they been through this?
Rose Yang 27:06
Well, because, okay, because of the pandemic, school closed down too, remember, that school closed down and they are home, they're virtual, too. They're virtual online, on the computer, they..., because my [inaudible] before pandemic, they have their Chromebook. So, during the pandemic, alright, the schools closed down, they bought their Chromebooks home. So, they were doing virtual on their computer, and they did pretty good on that. But only my two young girls, but my husband and I, we have to do more. Because with the virtual it's harder for them to understand the teacher's instruction. Exactly what the homework is, you know? So, it's harder on the two youngest, but the two older isn't..., is..., we have no problem with that.
Kristopher Strebe 27:59
They're old enough. Yeah. So, there is..., are things still online, then, or are they back?
Rose Yang 28:05
No, no, they are back to school, since, uh..., uh..., the beginning of August. When the beginning of August, after Labor Day, they went back to school, and they are still in school and physically present in school. That's how my district worked, you know, other districts, they are virtual, but not my district.
Kristopher Strebe 28:31
So then, like, overall, so..., with the pandemic in your family, like, how..., um..., how did it affect how you've communicated with your family and..., and not only, like, your family at home, but maybe...- perhaps your extended family? I mean, I don't—like, your parents or your relatives?
Rose Yang 28:51
Yeah, just...I would say, just, it's affect everything surrounding me and my family here. Because my family is from Michigan; my mom and brothers, uncles, everybody is in Michigan. I can't go there because I'm working as a healthcare provider again. Crossing over states is a restriction for me, you know, so I call..., I talked to my mom more, and my brothers, and my uncle, my aunt. Everybody more on the phone. Because if I crossed over state, we..., again we have to follow, uh..., Wisconsin Dental Association protocol, you know? If I'm out of state, I have to come back and then quarantine for so many days before I return to work, you know, so I, um..., [unknown] I try to minimize the [unknown] as not seeing my family as I am used to, you know?
Kristopher Strebe 29:49
So, before this, would you visit your family fairly often?
Rose Yang 29:52
Oh yeah. Yeah, I do. I..., I go there on Thanksgiving, Christmas, you know, Valentine's, and so on and so on, but I can't do that anymore.
Kristopher Strebe 30:04
Have any—has anyone you known, or anyone in your family, have anyone, um..., did they get the virus or, you know, how has it affected people outside of your immediate family? Perhaps your family in Michigan?
Rose Yang 30:17
I have two family members that got the virus, but they were not in Michigan. That was just a [unknown]. One..., one brother is..., he's from Sheboygan; he got it from work. As soon as he got it, he messaged everybody in my family, so we [unknown] don't visit each other, you know. And then the second one is my sister. Uh..., she got it, and she messaged me that I shouldn't go visit her, you stay home, and that's how we communicated.
Kristopher Strebe 31:00
And, so, um..., back to work. So, you've mentioned that your other job was, um..., is for, um..., you’re a realtor and what…
Rose Yang 31:08
Yes.
Kristopher Strebe 31:09
What company is that for?
Rose Yang 31:11
Homestead.
Kristopher Strebe 31:16
And, so, can you tell us about what you did…
Rose 31:19
Okay.
Kristopher Strebe 31:20
Like what did you do before the…all of the pandemic?
Rose Yang 31:22
Sure. Okay, before pandemic I will take people, my clients, for showing, just normal showing, go open houses, and [inaudible] offers and so on and so on. And then pandemic hit, um..., people kind of slowing..., slowing down their buying process, so I don't get too many clients, and it affected business, myself, on this side, you know? Uh...people stop buying, so...I kind of...I couldn't [inaudible] it there, because if I—if I take clients on the road it's harder, too, because things have to be restricted to masks and gloves and so on, and a lot of time um..., many times it's scary, and they just put off the showing, and that's affected that side of business for me.
Kristopher Strebe 32:26
And so, is that usually, do you work, like, by the hour? Or is it sort of something where...
Rose Yang 32:33
No. Just by the schedule, uh..., with the client, and my schedule.
Kristopher Strebe 32:44
Has that—have things gotten better or have they stayed pretty slow?
Rose 32:50
No, very slow right now, and I can honestly tell you, um..., business on this side is much lower than last year, compared to pre pandemic.
Kristopher Strebe 33:05
Do you think that we'll be picking up soon? Or do you think this is something that might..., it will remain slow for...?
Rose Yang 33:14
Well, I—I cannot say, but, because the market has a high demand, too, you know, [inaudible] I don't know if the prices...- right now the price is shooting high to skyrocketing, okay? And I don't know if the price that is getting skyrocket, and people stop buying, they would, maybe they wanted to wait until market is kind of like, uh..., prices come down, or what, you know?
Kristopher Strebe 33:44
So, it's a seller's market?
Rose Yang 33:46
Huh?
Kristopher Strebe 33:47
It's a seller's market then?
Rose Yang 33:49
Right now, it's a seller's market, uh-huh.... So, like, for example: I have a client; her budget is only 150,000. I cannot find one property to fit that budget, so I sent her an in..., a property that's 180, and that's beyond her budget, so I told her that right..., there's no such thing in the market right now. And then she asked me, "Will the seller work with me for my 150,000 budget?" I said, "No, with the high market demand now? Nobody is gonna work with you," you know? I told her, then she said, "Okay, nevermind then. We're not going to schedule for a showing." So that…that…that--that's the answer I got, so that's why I can't do showings much, because of the high demand marketplace.
Kristopher Strebe 34:48
So, let's talk a bit about, like, community. Um..., so you mentioned you live in Brookfield. Can you kind of tell us where that's located, for people who wouldn't...- aren't going to know? That's north of Milwaukee, isn't it?
Rose Yang 35:03
Can you repeat that again?
Kristopher Strebe 35:06
Where—so you mentioned...so you live in Brookfield, correct?
Rose Yang 35:10
Yes.
Kristopher Strebe 35:11
And, so, for people who listen, who don't know where that is, that is..., that's north of Milwaukee? Brookfield is north of Milwaukee?
Rose Yang 35:21
I would say so. I would say so. [unknown] north of Milwaukee, that is the area that most people know by. And I closed most of my private properties by north—north side of the Milwaukee.
Kristopher Strebe 35:39
So then, let's talk about, like, community, where you live and how..., um..., how do you think the leaders in your community, um..., that have had..., had..., um..., responded to the..., the needs of the pandemic? Um....
Rose Yang 35:58
What do you mean? Like, what do you...- Tell me a [unknown], a little bit more..., what do you mean by community leader, you know?
Kristopher Strebe 36:04
Um..., local government, or, um..., religious leaders, or, you know, even national government leaders, just people who, um..., you know, who would be expected to sort of be in charge of setting, um..., you know, policies and..., and responding to the needs of normal citizens during this time?
Rose Yang 36:29
Oh, sure. Um, I think my town, my Brookfield town is not that good as compared to Milwaukee. During the pandemic, Milwaukee, they have a guideline that everybody must be home by nine or something, you know, by 9pm. But in Brookfield, we don't have that..., that system being imposed on all of the citizens in Brookfield. So..., but then we..., we know that we can't take a risk. Like I said, because I work in the healthcare, I cannot take a risk bringing virus to my family or to my patient. So, once I'm done work, come home, go to work, come home, go to work, or I have a showing in the weekend, go to showing and then come back, you know? A week - like I said - our leaders in Brookfield are not that strict. Our community is not that strict with masks, with a curfew mandatory time. We don't have that compared to Milwaukee.
Kristopher Strebe 37:39
So, like, what do you think then, like, um..., some people, maybe you've read or heard, you know, there's people who feel that this pandemic really wasn't very serious, or that perhaps it's kind of been overblown. Um.... so I'm wondering what..., what types of attitudes have you seen from, just, people you know, or—or in the community have—have things changed over time, as we've learned more about this pandemic?
Rose Yang 38:15
I think the young generation like me, we're not, I mean, like, my cousins, you know, people that I come across, that we're not that scary, but the older generation, like my mom and my brother-in-law, they're much scary.
Kristopher Strebe 38:33
They're frightened, huh? Well, and also your're—your..., um..., um..., Hmong, right?
Rose Yang 38:42
Yes.
Kristopher Strebe 38:43
So do you think, um..., how, perhaps, in the Hmong community, how is this pandemic affected the Hmong community, specifically, that...-
Rose Yang 38:52
It—well, you know, I don't—I'm sure it's affected by someway and somehow, because in the Hmong community, what I've seen that people uh—like, especially Hmong American Friendship, they try to help, too. They..., they provided food, you know, because during the pandemic, everything is so limited, you know? The food [inaudible] limited toilet paper, the rice, for Hmong community, everything, so limited. So, the Hmong American Friendship is a non-profit, andI know [inaudible] like, come and line up for your food, pickup, and so on and so on, you know? And sometimes family members.... Yeah, go pick up, um..., food to help their family, you know. So, that's what I see in my community, in my Hmong community.
Kristopher 39:47
And Hmong American Friendship; that's a community organization. Correct?
Rose 39:51
Yes. Uh-huh. It's in Milwaukee, though. It's in Milwaukee and, um..., if they have, um..., they always have some food pickup, you know? I don't know about now, but during the pandemic, like, [unknown] I think they have, either every Thursday or Friday, for food pick up, you know.
Kristopher 40:13
So, you mentioned your parents and..., and older generations are more frightened. Is..., is this..., is..., so, in some cases, I know there's language difficulties…
Rose 40:24
Yes. Yeah, there is.
Kristopher Strebe 40:25
Then is it difficult for the older generation, perhaps to, like, get information that they're understanding?
Rose Yang 40:33
Oh, um..., I don't think so. I don't think the information [inaudible] on COVID that they don't understand at all, no. That theym we have Hmong radio, we have Hmong radio, and the Hmong radio is giving out the news, the latest—the latest updates, you know? My mother-in-law, and my mom always listen to their phone for..., for the Hmong radio, and they, I don't know what channel they listen to, but my mother will, every time I talk to my mom, my mom would say, "Okay, did you hear the COVID is this and that, and this and that?" My mother-in-law told me about it, too. And..., and for the COVID vaccine, they will very much update, like, just like us, you know?
Kristopher Strebe 41:17
The vaccine? So, were you able to get the vaccine quick because you're in healthcare?
Rose Yang 41:20
Yes. Yeah, I did. I got that. I got that, my mom got that, my mother-in-law, my husband. Everybody through, like, my generation, the older generation...- except my kids, we're waiting, you know? We're waiting to see how the age group fall in, or certain districts fall in, and then I..., we will take the kids for the vaccine, too. But we're not there yet. For that..., my kids.
Kristopher Strebe 41:48
So you mentioned Hmong radio, so..., talking about new sources of news about the pandemic..., so, where..., what's your primary source of news? You know, do you watch TV? Is it by reading, um..., things online? Listening to the radio? How..., what's been your primary news source, would you say?
Rose Yang 42:10
My primary news source is—is, Google. It's on Google's. And I don't remember what channel or anything - on Google's articles, on Google's, I will read, or my second source is checking Facebook, you know. Facebook is..., has a lot of news, too, you know. So, those are the two sources that I listen to, and—and then also my team; we have a meeting once a month, you know. So, one person is in charge of Wisconsin Dental Association, guidelines. So, we've constantly been update on that, too.
Kristopher Strebe 42:52
So..., using the news in that way, uh..., do you think there's certain issues, like, that this..., the..., your news media, that they may or may not cover? Things that they're ignoring or things that they're focusing on too much? Or do you feel like the news you get is..., is pretty accurate?
Rose Yang 43:15
Whether it's accurate or not, you know, I think that because I'm trying to minimize any risks I bring in to my family, it doesn't really matter, you know, to me, you know? Whether the news is up to date or over-saying or under-saying, and are not covering...- that content doesn't really matter to me, you know? What matters to me is my family, my jobs, and that's it. What I get update in my workplace is what's most important.
Kristopher Strebe 43:57
So moving forward from this, um..., so it's been about a year, a little over a year, with the pandemic, right? So where..., where would you think...- what do you think your life will be like in a year from now? Um..., what do you think life will be like?
Rose Yang 44:21
I-okay, so, I see a year from now, but a year from now, everyone including across the nation, I'm hoping you know, that we all get our vaccine, okay? And hopefully, I mean, things are slowly and will slowly come to normal, but the only non-normal, not so normal is the mask. I think the mask kind of will forever be there, if you want to extra protection. I mean, to get vaccine but just in-case, you know? Because we don't know what, there is no statistic about the vaccine, that you have it, chance are you might catch it. We don't know clearly any research on it. So...anybody can get vaccine, the COVID vaccine, but we don't need to go an extra mile to have mask on and again with a year from now, probably event, event or companies slowly opened up. Like my kids. They looking forward to Disney World. Okay, they did the biggest demo here before pandemic were like planning to go there and then the pandemic hit we-the Disney World shutdown. So, I a year from now. Yeah, things will slowly open up and event family are slowly plan to go to event, but again, we still have used mask. That it's something that I have to provide for my kids to give my kids a we go out, you know?
Kristopher Strebe 46:03
So, masks. What about policies perhaps with the dental office? Do you think though—
Rose Yang 46:15
Could you repeat that. what is it?
Kristopher Strebe 46:17
So, do you think there'll be then also policies within in the dental industry that will be permanently changed because of this?
Rose Yang 46:28
Well...I well because I in healthcare industry, okay? Hospital, dental office, we are in the healthcare. I think that is going to forever change it. I don't think it's ever going to be the same again. Even though we get vaccine patients get vaccine, they come in to see us, they're super, super excited and happy that they get the vaccines, but we still have to be more extra cautious, for ours
We are recording. My name is Kristopher Strebe and I am here with Rose Yang and Elise Schrader. The date is April 11 2021. The time is 3pm Central. Rose is in Brookfield, Wisconsin, Elise is in Indianapolis, Indiana, and I am in Janesville, Wisconsin. Rose, I want to briefly review the informed consent and deed of gift document that you signed.
Rose Yang 00:29
Mhm.
Kristopher Strebe 00:30
This interview is for the COVID-19 Oral History Project, which is associated with A Journal of the Plague Year: An COVID-19 Archive. The COVID-19 Oral History Project is a rapid response oral history focused on archiving the lived experience of the COVID-19 epidemic. We have designed this project so that professional researchers in the broader public can create and upload their oral histories to our open access and open-source database. This study will help us collect narratives and understandings about COVID-19 as well as help us better understand the impacts of the pandemic over time. The recordings demographic information and the verbatim transcripts will be deposited in A Journal of the Plague Year: An COVID-19 Archive and the Indiana University Library System for the use of researchers and the general public. Do you have any questions about the project that I can answer?
Rose Yang 01:28
No, no, no we can get started. Mhm.
Kristopher Strebe 01:31
Okay, well, we got a bit more stuff like this. And then...
Rose Yang 01:34
Okay, hahaha.
Kristopher Strebe 01:37
Yeah, yeah. Taking part in this study is voluntary. You may choose not to take part or you may leave the study at any time. Leaving the study will not result in any penalty or loss of benefits to which you are entitled. Your decision whether or not to participate in the study will not affect your current or future relations with Indiana University IUPUI or the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute. participating in this project means that your interviews will be recorded in digital video and or audio format, maybe transcribed. The recordings and possible transcriptions of the interviews, copies of any supplement supplementary documents or additional photos that you wish to share. And the informed consent and deed-of-gifts may be deposited in An Journal of the Plague Year: An COVID-19 Archive in the Indiana University Library System and will be available to both researchers and the general public. Your name and other means of identification will not be confidential. Do you have any questions?
Rose Yang 02:43
No.
Kristopher Strebe 02:45
Okay, one more segment here. In addition to your signed document, would you please offer a verbal confirmation that you understand and agree to the following terms. I'm asking that you verbally confirm that you have agreed that your interview will be made available under the following license. And you had the second option, The COVID-19 Oral History Project, Rhe Journal of the Plague Year: An COVID-19 Archive, and the trustees of Indiana University acting through its agents employees or representatives have an unlimited right to reproduce, use exhibit display, perform broadcasts, create derivative works from, and distribute the oral history materials in any manner or media now existing or hereafter developed in perpetuity throughout the world. If you agree that the oral history materials may be used by the voices from the waterways and IU including its science and transferees for any purpose, including but not limited to marketing, advertising, publicity or other promotional purposes. You agree that IU will have final editorial authority over the use of the oral history materials, and waive any right to inspect or approve of any future use of the oral history materials. Moreover, you agree that the public has the right to use the materials under the terms of fair use US Copyright Law Section 107 of the US Copyright Act. Do you agree?
Rose Yang 04:21
I agree.
Kristopher Strebe 04:22
Okay. And finally, I want to ask for a verbal confirmation that you have agreed that your interviews will be made available to the public immediately. Do you agree?
Rose Yang 04:33
I agree. My guess my...
Kristopher Strebe 04:35
Gongratulations. You've made the laundry list of legalese here. So I think to get us started with the interview, we can just start with a little background information. So, if you'd like to just tell us a bit about yourself, you know, your family or where you're from what you d?
Rose Yang 04:58
Okay? My family we came from Thailand. We came...I came with my family in 1988. I was eleven years old. I went to a middle high school to college and now that I'm working full-time as you think and part-time licensed realtor. Yeah, I'm self-employed part-time and I'm working in a dental office full-time.
Kristopher Strebe 05:36
So like, could you tell us more and like what are the primary things then that you do day to day for your work?
Rose Yang 05:42
Oh well, because our COVID-19, going to work is...never normal again, you know? It's so different now because we have to work in in the office we have to double mask, especially me I'm just speaking behalf of me, we have a can KN95 and surgical mask. So, I usually put our surgical mask overfirst and then KN95 over. So the surgical one is disposable between patient and we have to change your lab coat too between patient because of the aerosols, the handpiece that we draw that it splashes aerosol in the room so we need to change really...we need to practice probably better than ever, you know? Because we want everyone to be saved. We try our best you know and we have...I don't know what you would call like a dehumidifier for COVID-19. We have that kind of machine run 24 hours during the office too. As a realtor, now, again, it depends, but every shown that I go through we have to put our mask. We want my buyers. my seller to be safe, and we provide...if I'm listing the property, I have to provide mask inside the room. Just in case somebody walk in...our agent without mask or he or she bring in their client without mask. So we need to provide masks and gloves, just so that they touch anything, it's good to be safe again. So, it like life now is totally different than the pre-pandemic
Kristopher Strebe 07:38
So, with the dental, can you just tell us like what your normal day to day jobs and would be before the pandemic? Just... Um, yeah yeah. What would you do and what it's like um...all that type of stuff?
Rose Yang 07:51
Sure. Before pandemic, the job, that dental teaching job. We just wear surgical mask and we come in with our uniform and we're going home with our uniform. It's not like that anymore...
Kristopher Strebe 08:06
What is a dental assistant do? Like what are your your jobs as a dental assistant?
Rose Yang 08:11
My job. My job, excuse me...you're teaching a doctor, if we do filling with a doctor, I hand him all the [inaudible] he need to finish after mine, you know? And if we do crown, I set up his system, everything from beginning procedure any procedure that I'm assisting with the doctor, I helped him from the beginning to the end. And then dismiss the patient and bring new one in...into the room. Yeah, that's how I...my position, yeah.
Kristopher Strebe 08:45
So you're helping him you know, assisting him with, like the different tools that he needs?
Rose Yang 08:50
Yes, yes. Like, I'm basically his right-hand person, you know? So...a lot of time, we are training to do the doctor's duties, to the extent what we call expanded duties. You know, like advance procedures like...if she's not, well, we're not allowed to drill in her mouth because its an advance procedure to me like, especially with partients for partial or denture, usually the doctor does it, you know, because we're trained as a part of our advance expanded duty, they teach and we do that. Yeah, we do some of the expanded duties from the doctor.
Kristopher Strebe 09:34
So, it takes time off of his hands, right?
Rose Yang 09:36
Mhm.
Kristopher Strebe 09:42
So, and how long have you how long have you been? Oh, and so this is so for clarity. This is an East Side Dental, right, in Milwaukee?
Rose Yang 09:50
Yes, yeah. Yes.
Kristopher Strebe 09:52
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, right? So how long have you been doing that? How long have you been working there?
Rose Yang 10:00
Um...almost. July 10th will be my 16 years.
Kristopher Strebe 10:05
16 years, wow.
Rose Yang 10:06
Almost 16 years now...
Kristopher Strebe 10:13
So, when did things...so let's go back to that. How...when did you first start hearing about the the that there may be this pandemic? That there's um...this virus going around, when did like when what time period did you first start hearing about it and...
Rose Yang 10:33
Well...because we are health care providers, and we need to be up to date to anything that's going on in public, you know, so we usually call in to ADA, you know, or Wisconsin Dental Association, you know? We called all those associations. And they had guidance for us, for my office, for, uh..., all the dental office to follow. That's what we found out. And, um..., the moment that everything shut down, the office closed. Then, again, we're following [unknown] dental association; their guidelines shut down the company. And when the new guidelines came out, then we reopened. I mean, we opened in the pandemic, too, just for emergency visits, you know, so that we can relieve our ER, you know. Because a lot of time people in pain, they go and end up in ER, and, uh..., the doctors over at the ER cannot do extraction or a major procedure. So they still ended up referring the patient back to a dental office. And that's where we come in, and we do the stuff that we have to do to relieve the patient's pain. And we're open only for emergencies during the pandemic, the beginning of shutdown, or all the shutdowns. And then—
Kristopher Strebe 12:09
I think we're getting some lag here.
Rose Yang 12:22
Time when we reopen again everything that was...- What was that?
Kristopher Strebe 12:28
I think we're..., the audio is cutting out again. Do you want to try, um..., turning it off?
Rose Yang 12:34
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, like, on and off, like, yeah, it's on and off. I don't know how we fix it. I think we can just go on and if I cannot hear your question, you'll just have to repeat it for me.
Kristopher Strebe 12:47
Okay. Let's try turning cameras off, though. Just if it helps with, um...-
Rose Yang 12:54
Okay.
Kristopher Strebe 12:55
A little bit with, like, the..., so I'm going to turn mine off.
Rose Yang 12:57
Okay.
Kristopher Strebe 12:57
I think it'd help if you turned yours off as well.
Rose Yang 13:14
Yeah, I'm trying to.
Kristopher Strebe 13:15
Okay. In a normal world, you know, we'd be doing it face to face; we wouldn't have this..., this problem.
Rose Yang 13:43
I cannot find my button of, um..., face turn off.
Kristopher Strebe 13:49
I think it will be in the bottom left hand, um..., of the..., there's kind of the menu bar down there.
Rose Yang 13:55
Oh, yeah, I saw it. Yeah, I found it. Yeah, there you go. Okay.
Kristopher Strebe 14:05
And so, you're talking about, that you remained open even during the—the shutdown?
Rose Yang 14:11
Yes.
Kristopher Strebe 14:12
For, like, ER purposes.
Rose Yang 14:13
Yes. Uh-huh. Yes. And in most of the office, most dental offices, they do not, or they did not, open. So, we were kind of, like, not super busy, but were going to make sure social distancing of six feet apply too, now. Again, this is, like, WDA guideline. So we, if we have a patient running late and they arrive in the outside, we want to make sure they call us, and make sure that we finish it –whatever we do, the patient that we had in the office. So with this method, the patient, that we can call the one from outside waiting in the car to come in. So that's how we did it in the beginning, so that there's the other patient, they don't see each other for social distance, for safety.
Kristopher Strebe 15:09
And so, were these patients, were they people who were normal patients or, you know, preexisting patients that would regularly come into the office or are they, like?
Rose Yang 15:22
No, during the pandemic, we open during the pandemic, the normal patient, they don't come. We rescheduled everything, we cancel all our schedules, all our appointments. Everything was cancelled, rescheduled, but we don't know - we kind of, like, uh..., we check that hopefully, um..., WDA guideline will be changing in, like, two months. You know, so we rescheduled a further two months just to see how things are. And if by that, or by then, two months came down, and then these guidelines that the WDA, um..., it's still not up to open regular, then we push it further. You know, further to another two months or three months. That's how we do it. And they understand, the patients, the families, they're very understanding. And they want to make sure that we follow guidelines, we make sure that they all stay safe, too. So, they had no complaint every time we rescheduled them.
Kristopher Strebe 16:23
Hmph. So, like, how long was this going on then, where it was sort of, um..., you called it ER?
Rose Yang 16:33
Um..., so you know the pandemic, which started in March?
Kristopher Strebe 16:37
Mn-hmm.
Rose Yang 16:37
March of 2020. And from March to May, that is for emergency visits only, and any regular patient we rescheduled. So, the day after Memorial Day, on May, that is we opened it back [inaudible]. But we were having Team A and Team B, because we have three doctors, and, uh..., the oldest doctor, who is Dr. Galka, who is the owner. We kinda like close [inaudible] our patient, temporarily. We have two younger doctors, and we divide to a Team A and Team B. And we worked twelve-hour shifts. So, starting on a Wednesday, then—then, Team A started Wednesday to the following Tuesday, okay? Then Team B pick up from that Wednesday to the following Tuesday. So, we worked a twelve-hour shift.
Kristopher Strebe 17:45
What would it, what was a normal, what is a normal shift?
Rose Yang 17:52
The normal is from eight to five. That's the normal.
Kristopher Strebe 17:56
Okay, yeah. So, was it always, then, very busy during this time, or…
Rose Yang 18:02
Yeah, during that time, and, you know, like, because I worked twelve-hour shift and I got one week off. And that one week, um..., I'm not really off. I am, like, um..., you know, like, ordering stuff from home, too. I worked from home, too. You know, I have a computer with a [unknown] program on the, on the, uh..., little tablet. We have a tablet, like a Microsoft tablet, that I, that I bought home from work. And we have same schedule, connects everything in there. And team logistics, because I'm in Team A, I'm taking my break, a week from home, Team B is working full twelve-hour shifts for one week. They need supplies ordered. They're not at home to order the supplies for them, too, you know. If they're short, they text me, they message me. We have a messaging system, too. So, the other team would message me, uh..., and then I will get the order from home, right? And at that time, we were short on masks, and short on gloves. And during that one week off that I had, I called and do the research, calling companies where, uh..., where I can get those stuff to the office, you know, and the week that I work, then Team B is off, and one person from Team B is doing the orders. And then my Team A - we need something - I have to message the team, uh..., the person on Team B to get the supplies for us. So we kind of rotated like this so that, um..., we balanced out our working hours, too.
Kristopher Strebe 19:56
You mentioned getting supplies. So, was that pretty difficult then? And, um..., did the government at all help or provide with supplies?
Rose Yang 20:08
Could you, like—hold on? I'm kind of, like, cut off here. Could you repeat your question again?
Kristopher Strebe 20:15
Yeah, certainly. You mentioned...so getting supplies, was that pretty difficult to do?
Rose Yang 20:24
Yeah, at the beginning, yes, but not anymore now. You know, at the beginning because, um..., healthcare providers, like a big hospital, they were the frontline, they were the first priority - the masks and gloves - to ship it to, you know. We're, like, bottom line, you know? How bottom, I don't know, but then every time I call for the order, they say, "No, we're out of the masks and the gloves," because they are shipping it to big hospitals, you know. So if I placed orders, we..., it's going to be..., they don't know when it's going to come in. So they recommend that I, once a week, I call in just to see where the supply level is, and then we just go from there.
Kristopher Strebe 21:13
So, did you ever run out of anything, then?
Rose Yang 21:15
Oh, not completely. But short—
Kristopher Strebe 21:17
Not completely?
Rose Yang 21:18
I—a little nervous, you know? Never completely. But, like I said, short. A little short and a little nervous. Especially, I'm doing the order and that's a big responsibility, too. And another person that's on Team B, she..., again, she was very nervous, too. So both of us communicated with each other just to see, um..., what company that we found out that has lots of supplies and we should go get from there, and then go on from there.
Kristopher Strebe 21:58
So once, um..., this period was over, so how have things then..., um..., kind of transitioned, do you feel, um..., to where they are now? Um..., how close do you think...? What am I trying to say here? Um..., you had mentioned..., so, like, after May, Memorial Day it went...-
Rose Yang 22:23
Yeah, that's when we opened for going back to the regular patients.
Kristopher Strebe 22:29
And so how was that, maybe, how did that work? And what was it like? You know, different...-
Rose Yang 22:35
Okay, so we're, again, when we come back from [unknown] open to regular patient, for cleaning, for our existing patient schedule, um..., we, again, we were in Team A and Team B. We were doing from May to August, to see how things go, for that, for all this shit. But then, one doctor, because he is just sitting twelve hours on a chair, he's leaning too much in the [unknown], and he hurts one of his leg. But his mom is, like, a physical therapist, so she [unknown]. His mom is telling him to do some, uh..., stretches out and some exercise, just to, um..., uh..., you know, get his, uh..., his leg back to normal. You know, he told me that. And it was super hard to, I..., if I need to go, if I have a choice, I don't want to go back through all this shit. You know?
Kristopher Strebe 23:41
Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't blame you on that.
Rose Yang 23:45
Yeah, it's hard. Because once, the moment I came home, from twelve-hour shift, I cannot do anything because I'm too tired. You know? So, my husband did all the work, you know? So, I'm glad that it was over when we get to August, you know? From May to August, then the Team A, Team B were over. And then we were, like, um..., normal schedule, not really normal, our schedule—schedule changes without a [unknown] instead of age, you know?
Kristopher Strebe 24:19
So, you mentioned home life, and your husband did more homework. So, could you tell me a bit of just about, like, how has the...the pandemic and, you know, how did it affect you and your, um..., your day-to-day life at home? How did it change things?
Rose Yang 24:36
Well, because of the schedule of work that I had, you know, like, the twelve-hour shift that I had, it does really affect my family and, um..., and my husband, he..., he works from home, you know, because everything shut down, his company shut down. He worked from home. I mean, still now, he's still working from home.
Kristopher Strebe 24:59
What is—what does he do for work?
Rose Yang 25:01
He is—well, he's a software engineer for Kohl's.
Kristopher Strebe 25:08
Okay. So that, was that online before, or did it become...-
Rose Yang 25:13
No, he used to go, before pandemic, he—he went to work at the company in Menominee Falls for the headquarter in Menominee Falls. He'd go there, get on a computer every day in there. But then, during the pandemic, everything closed down, he came home, and work from home. I mean, um..., today he still works from home. So, during the pandemic, during my shift, he does - he cooks, he cleans, he took care of the kid - I cannot do any of that until the week that I'm off.
Kristopher Strebe 25:34
So, then, you kind of took turns, then, and back and forth during the week, like, one week...-
Rose Yang 25:52
Yeah.
Kristopher Strebe 25:56
So, has that been, like, was..., has that been stressful at home then? Or has there been tension? Or has it, just..., things worked out?
Rose Yang 26:04
I…I don't know if stress is the right word to call, you know? I..., because see, we are, you know, do what we can, you know, uh..., do what we can. He is..., my husband is helping me as best he can, because he understands working in the healthcare is...it's affecting the life, and he is trying to adapt to my schedule, and try to help me, get me through all this.
Kristopher Strebe 26:37
Then you mentioned your children. How many children do you have?
Rose Yang 26:41
I have four. I have two boys and two girls.
Kristopher Strebe 26:44
How..., about how old are they?
Rose Yang 26:46
Nineteen…eleven, seven..., hold on...nineteen, eleven, eight and seven.
Kristopher Strebe 27:02
So, how've have they been through this?
Rose Yang 27:06
Well, because, okay, because of the pandemic, school closed down too, remember, that school closed down and they are home, they're virtual, too. They're virtual online, on the computer, they..., because my [inaudible] before pandemic, they have their Chromebook. So, during the pandemic, alright, the schools closed down, they bought their Chromebooks home. So, they were doing virtual on their computer, and they did pretty good on that. But only my two young girls, but my husband and I, we have to do more. Because with the virtual it's harder for them to understand the teacher's instruction. Exactly what the homework is, you know? So, it's harder on the two youngest, but the two older isn't..., is..., we have no problem with that.
Kristopher Strebe 27:59
They're old enough. Yeah. So, there is..., are things still online, then, or are they back?
Rose Yang 28:05
No, no, they are back to school, since, uh..., uh..., the beginning of August. When the beginning of August, after Labor Day, they went back to school, and they are still in school and physically present in school. That's how my district worked, you know, other districts, they are virtual, but not my district.
Kristopher Strebe 28:31
So then, like, overall, so..., with the pandemic in your family, like, how..., um..., how did it affect how you've communicated with your family and..., and not only, like, your family at home, but maybe...- perhaps your extended family? I mean, I don't—like, your parents or your relatives?
Rose Yang 28:51
Yeah, just...I would say, just, it's affect everything surrounding me and my family here. Because my family is from Michigan; my mom and brothers, uncles, everybody is in Michigan. I can't go there because I'm working as a healthcare provider again. Crossing over states is a restriction for me, you know, so I call..., I talked to my mom more, and my brothers, and my uncle, my aunt. Everybody more on the phone. Because if I crossed over state, we..., again we have to follow, uh..., Wisconsin Dental Association protocol, you know? If I'm out of state, I have to come back and then quarantine for so many days before I return to work, you know, so I, um..., [unknown] I try to minimize the [unknown] as not seeing my family as I am used to, you know?
Kristopher Strebe 29:49
So, before this, would you visit your family fairly often?
Rose Yang 29:52
Oh yeah. Yeah, I do. I..., I go there on Thanksgiving, Christmas, you know, Valentine's, and so on and so on, but I can't do that anymore.
Kristopher Strebe 30:04
Have any—has anyone you known, or anyone in your family, have anyone, um..., did they get the virus or, you know, how has it affected people outside of your immediate family? Perhaps your family in Michigan?
Rose Yang 30:17
I have two family members that got the virus, but they were not in Michigan. That was just a [unknown]. One..., one brother is..., he's from Sheboygan; he got it from work. As soon as he got it, he messaged everybody in my family, so we [unknown] don't visit each other, you know. And then the second one is my sister. Uh..., she got it, and she messaged me that I shouldn't go visit her, you stay home, and that's how we communicated.
Kristopher Strebe 31:00
And, so, um..., back to work. So, you've mentioned that your other job was, um..., is for, um..., you’re a realtor and what…
Rose Yang 31:08
Yes.
Kristopher Strebe 31:09
What company is that for?
Rose Yang 31:11
Homestead.
Kristopher Strebe 31:16
And, so, can you tell us about what you did…
Rose 31:19
Okay.
Kristopher Strebe 31:20
Like what did you do before the…all of the pandemic?
Rose Yang 31:22
Sure. Okay, before pandemic I will take people, my clients, for showing, just normal showing, go open houses, and [inaudible] offers and so on and so on. And then pandemic hit, um..., people kind of slowing..., slowing down their buying process, so I don't get too many clients, and it affected business, myself, on this side, you know? Uh...people stop buying, so...I kind of...I couldn't [inaudible] it there, because if I—if I take clients on the road it's harder, too, because things have to be restricted to masks and gloves and so on, and a lot of time um..., many times it's scary, and they just put off the showing, and that's affected that side of business for me.
Kristopher Strebe 32:26
And so, is that usually, do you work, like, by the hour? Or is it sort of something where...
Rose Yang 32:33
No. Just by the schedule, uh..., with the client, and my schedule.
Kristopher Strebe 32:44
Has that—have things gotten better or have they stayed pretty slow?
Rose 32:50
No, very slow right now, and I can honestly tell you, um..., business on this side is much lower than last year, compared to pre pandemic.
Kristopher Strebe 33:05
Do you think that we'll be picking up soon? Or do you think this is something that might..., it will remain slow for...?
Rose Yang 33:14
Well, I—I cannot say, but, because the market has a high demand, too, you know, [inaudible] I don't know if the prices...- right now the price is shooting high to skyrocketing, okay? And I don't know if the price that is getting skyrocket, and people stop buying, they would, maybe they wanted to wait until market is kind of like, uh..., prices come down, or what, you know?
Kristopher Strebe 33:44
So, it's a seller's market?
Rose Yang 33:46
Huh?
Kristopher Strebe 33:47
It's a seller's market then?
Rose Yang 33:49
Right now, it's a seller's market, uh-huh.... So, like, for example: I have a client; her budget is only 150,000. I cannot find one property to fit that budget, so I sent her an in..., a property that's 180, and that's beyond her budget, so I told her that right..., there's no such thing in the market right now. And then she asked me, "Will the seller work with me for my 150,000 budget?" I said, "No, with the high market demand now? Nobody is gonna work with you," you know? I told her, then she said, "Okay, nevermind then. We're not going to schedule for a showing." So that…that…that--that's the answer I got, so that's why I can't do showings much, because of the high demand marketplace.
Kristopher Strebe 34:48
So, let's talk a bit about, like, community. Um..., so you mentioned you live in Brookfield. Can you kind of tell us where that's located, for people who wouldn't...- aren't going to know? That's north of Milwaukee, isn't it?
Rose Yang 35:03
Can you repeat that again?
Kristopher Strebe 35:06
Where—so you mentioned...so you live in Brookfield, correct?
Rose Yang 35:10
Yes.
Kristopher Strebe 35:11
And, so, for people who listen, who don't know where that is, that is..., that's north of Milwaukee? Brookfield is north of Milwaukee?
Rose Yang 35:21
I would say so. I would say so. [unknown] north of Milwaukee, that is the area that most people know by. And I closed most of my private properties by north—north side of the Milwaukee.
Kristopher Strebe 35:39
So then, let's talk about, like, community, where you live and how..., um..., how do you think the leaders in your community, um..., that have had..., had..., um..., responded to the..., the needs of the pandemic? Um....
Rose Yang 35:58
What do you mean? Like, what do you...- Tell me a [unknown], a little bit more..., what do you mean by community leader, you know?
Kristopher Strebe 36:04
Um..., local government, or, um..., religious leaders, or, you know, even national government leaders, just people who, um..., you know, who would be expected to sort of be in charge of setting, um..., you know, policies and..., and responding to the needs of normal citizens during this time?
Rose Yang 36:29
Oh, sure. Um, I think my town, my Brookfield town is not that good as compared to Milwaukee. During the pandemic, Milwaukee, they have a guideline that everybody must be home by nine or something, you know, by 9pm. But in Brookfield, we don't have that..., that system being imposed on all of the citizens in Brookfield. So..., but then we..., we know that we can't take a risk. Like I said, because I work in the healthcare, I cannot take a risk bringing virus to my family or to my patient. So, once I'm done work, come home, go to work, come home, go to work, or I have a showing in the weekend, go to showing and then come back, you know? A week - like I said - our leaders in Brookfield are not that strict. Our community is not that strict with masks, with a curfew mandatory time. We don't have that compared to Milwaukee.
Kristopher Strebe 37:39
So, like, what do you think then, like, um..., some people, maybe you've read or heard, you know, there's people who feel that this pandemic really wasn't very serious, or that perhaps it's kind of been overblown. Um.... so I'm wondering what..., what types of attitudes have you seen from, just, people you know, or—or in the community have—have things changed over time, as we've learned more about this pandemic?
Rose Yang 38:15
I think the young generation like me, we're not, I mean, like, my cousins, you know, people that I come across, that we're not that scary, but the older generation, like my mom and my brother-in-law, they're much scary.
Kristopher Strebe 38:33
They're frightened, huh? Well, and also your're—your..., um..., um..., Hmong, right?
Rose Yang 38:42
Yes.
Kristopher Strebe 38:43
So do you think, um..., how, perhaps, in the Hmong community, how is this pandemic affected the Hmong community, specifically, that...-
Rose Yang 38:52
It—well, you know, I don't—I'm sure it's affected by someway and somehow, because in the Hmong community, what I've seen that people uh—like, especially Hmong American Friendship, they try to help, too. They..., they provided food, you know, because during the pandemic, everything is so limited, you know? The food [inaudible] limited toilet paper, the rice, for Hmong community, everything, so limited. So, the Hmong American Friendship is a non-profit, andI know [inaudible] like, come and line up for your food, pickup, and so on and so on, you know? And sometimes family members.... Yeah, go pick up, um..., food to help their family, you know. So, that's what I see in my community, in my Hmong community.
Kristopher 39:47
And Hmong American Friendship; that's a community organization. Correct?
Rose 39:51
Yes. Uh-huh. It's in Milwaukee, though. It's in Milwaukee and, um..., if they have, um..., they always have some food pickup, you know? I don't know about now, but during the pandemic, like, [unknown] I think they have, either every Thursday or Friday, for food pick up, you know.
Kristopher 40:13
So, you mentioned your parents and..., and older generations are more frightened. Is..., is this..., is..., so, in some cases, I know there's language difficulties…
Rose 40:24
Yes. Yeah, there is.
Kristopher Strebe 40:25
Then is it difficult for the older generation, perhaps to, like, get information that they're understanding?
Rose Yang 40:33
Oh, um..., I don't think so. I don't think the information [inaudible] on COVID that they don't understand at all, no. That theym we have Hmong radio, we have Hmong radio, and the Hmong radio is giving out the news, the latest—the latest updates, you know? My mother-in-law, and my mom always listen to their phone for..., for the Hmong radio, and they, I don't know what channel they listen to, but my mother will, every time I talk to my mom, my mom would say, "Okay, did you hear the COVID is this and that, and this and that?" My mother-in-law told me about it, too. And..., and for the COVID vaccine, they will very much update, like, just like us, you know?
Kristopher Strebe 41:17
The vaccine? So, were you able to get the vaccine quick because you're in healthcare?
Rose Yang 41:20
Yes. Yeah, I did. I got that. I got that, my mom got that, my mother-in-law, my husband. Everybody through, like, my generation, the older generation...- except my kids, we're waiting, you know? We're waiting to see how the age group fall in, or certain districts fall in, and then I..., we will take the kids for the vaccine, too. But we're not there yet. For that..., my kids.
Kristopher Strebe 41:48
So you mentioned Hmong radio, so..., talking about new sources of news about the pandemic..., so, where..., what's your primary source of news? You know, do you watch TV? Is it by reading, um..., things online? Listening to the radio? How..., what's been your primary news source, would you say?
Rose Yang 42:10
My primary news source is—is, Google. It's on Google's. And I don't remember what channel or anything - on Google's articles, on Google's, I will read, or my second source is checking Facebook, you know. Facebook is..., has a lot of news, too, you know. So, those are the two sources that I listen to, and—and then also my team; we have a meeting once a month, you know. So, one person is in charge of Wisconsin Dental Association, guidelines. So, we've constantly been update on that, too.
Kristopher Strebe 42:52
So..., using the news in that way, uh..., do you think there's certain issues, like, that this..., the..., your news media, that they may or may not cover? Things that they're ignoring or things that they're focusing on too much? Or do you feel like the news you get is..., is pretty accurate?
Rose Yang 43:15
Whether it's accurate or not, you know, I think that because I'm trying to minimize any risks I bring in to my family, it doesn't really matter, you know, to me, you know? Whether the news is up to date or over-saying or under-saying, and are not covering...- that content doesn't really matter to me, you know? What matters to me is my family, my jobs, and that's it. What I get update in my workplace is what's most important.
Kristopher Strebe 43:57
So moving forward from this, um..., so it's been about a year, a little over a year, with the pandemic, right? So where..., where would you think...- what do you think your life will be like in a year from now? Um..., what do you think life will be like?
Rose Yang 44:21
I-okay, so, I see a year from now, but a year from now, everyone including across the nation, I'm hoping you know, that we all get our vaccine, okay? And hopefully, I mean, things are slowly and will slowly come to normal, but the only non-normal, not so normal is the mask. I think the mask kind of will forever be there, if you want to extra protection. I mean, to get vaccine but just in-case, you know? Because we don't know what, there is no statistic about the vaccine, that you have it, chance are you might catch it. We don't know clearly any research on it. So...anybody can get vaccine, the COVID vaccine, but we don't need to go an extra mile to have mask on and again with a year from now, probably event, event or companies slowly opened up. Like my kids. They looking forward to Disney World. Okay, they did the biggest demo here before pandemic were like planning to go there and then the pandemic hit we-the Disney World shutdown. So, I a year from now. Yeah, things will slowly open up and event family are slowly plan to go to event, but again, we still have used mask. That it's something that I have to provide for my kids to give my kids a we go out, you know?
Kristopher Strebe 46:03
So, masks. What about policies perhaps with the dental office? Do you think though—
Rose Yang 46:15
Could you repeat that. what is it?
Kristopher Strebe 46:17
So, do you think there'll be then also policies within in the dental industry that will be permanently changed because of this?
Rose Yang 46:28
Well...I well because I in healthcare industry, okay? Hospital, dental office, we are in the healthcare. I think that is going to forever change it. I don't think it's ever going to be the same again. Even though we get vaccine patients get vaccine, they come in to see us, they're super, super excited and happy that they get the vaccines, but we still have to be more extra cautious, for ours