Items

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  2020

  Effects of PPE

  This photo is an important reflection of what healthcare providers have had to endure and the lasting physical and mental toll the pandemic has taken. It was taken after a 12 hour shift of wearing PPE non-stop.
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  2021-05-03

  ICU Change.org Petition during COVID

  I’m in a mom group on Facebook where this was shared. The woman who began the petition outlines her struggle with her husband’s traumatic workplace injury and how their lives and his recovery is impacted by the ICU’s COVID rules. There are also many comments by petition signers who believe COVID restrictions do more harm than good.
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  2021-01-17

  Bay Area firefighter paramedic deployed to SoCal hospital describes COVID-19 situation

  MARIN, Calif. (KGO) -- As COVID-19 cases surge, Bay Area firefighters are getting deployed to hospitals across the state. Bob Craft, a firefighter paramedic from the Central Marin Fire Department is working the nightshift. Two hours into his shift, he intubated a patient in the emergency department who arrived to the hospital with stroke like symptoms and prepped a COVID-19 patient for their flip onto their stomach for the rest of the night. "It's the gamut from really regular people coming to the emergency department to people on ventilators on the ICU who are on the COVID ward," said craft.
• 2021-01-27

  Losing Grandma

  A week and a half ago was my grandmother's 90th birthday. I shared here about our family's disappointment at not getting to have a big party and instead visiting her at her window. Now she's in the ER, awaiting a transfer to hospice. It doesn't seem to be COVID, although the tests aren't back yet. No one knows what happened or why. There are no ICU beds available and resources in general are limited to investigate why a 90 year old woman who was fine 12 hours earlier is now unresponsive and on a ventilator. No one can go visit her. We're not sure if we will be able to visit her at the hospice. Grandma has had health scares before but nothing like this. Before we would be coordinating visitors and making sure someone was by to see her everyday, even if she was unconscious. Now we’re limited to the family group text as my aunt follows up with doctors by phone and relays information to the rest of us. She’s pulled through before but this time feels different. The doctors are all stretched so thin and resources are so limited that all the odds are against her. I used to take Grandma out at least once or twice a month. We’d go to a movie or just lunch. Maybe run some errands. I haven’t seen her without a window between us in nearly a year. I’m probably never going to get to hug her again.
• 
  2020-12-14

  The Daily Numbers, No More Beds

  Since October, I religiously check the daily case rate everyday at 12:30 when my distance learning class breaks for lunch. Originally, I checked in outrage, as I watched the local numbers climb, while simultaneously hearing our school administrators claim our school of 2500 was “safe to open.” After Halloween, I spent a tense November planning to take a leave because there was no way I was risking my family to continue to teach in person but still over Zoom, unable to walk around, with kids unable to work in a capacity beyond their chrome books. Me, exposing myself unnecessarily to the virus inside my classroom with students, but teaching exactly as I would for distance learning, for the political facade that things are “normal.” 20 people dying a day in this county is not normal. These daily numbers climbing confirmed to me my gut instinct was right. Our school ended up having our re-opening cancelled by the state when our area moved into the most restrictive tier at the end of November. I had mixed feelings of relief, horror, and deep sadness. The day we hit 700 cases a day, I was in shock. When we crossed 1000, I was horrified. Last week, when we hit 2000 cases a day, I was in terror. Today and yesterday, we have reached over 3000 new cases a day, and there are now 0% ICU beds available in our county. I feel nothing but numb. Numb and exasperated that people here are still refusing to wear masks and still think going out is more important than the safety of our community. Oh, but don’t worry. My school still thinks it’s safe to open.
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  2020-09-06

  The Faces of ICU Nurses Under Pressure

  An ICU nurse started photographing her coworkers during her breaks. Her photographs show the pressure and stress that health care professionals are under during this pandemic.