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  2020-09-25

  Why haven't we done more to protect the lives of healthcare workers?

  The death of frontline health workers in the US was a tragedy. The majority of those who died were minorities and immigrants. The lack of ppe only made that problem worse, yet they still chose to stick around, wanting to help others. This speaks to my experience as a child of a frontline, minority healthcare worker. I was terrified to see my mother go to work every day, knowing that she would come into contact with this virus and put our entire household, including my then one-year old sister at risk. I don’t feel we have adequately served or protected our healthcare workers. A free meal at McDonalds is not adequate enough compensation given the risk that they were taking. Many did not receive pay increases yet were still expected to come to work every day. The lack of PPE only increased my anxiety. Many times, she was forced to reuse things like masks and gowns because the hospital did not have. She was made to feel like she could not quit or work less because the need for healthcare works was so great. She believed she would be perceived as selfish, and uncaring for choosing her family over the pandemic and its victims which really broke my heart. There were a lot of times that I could see her struggling with the fact that she was helping others but endangering her own family in the process. I have a lot of respect for her because she chose to persevere in the face of Covdi-19 and believe that more of our healthcare workers perspectives and stories should be known. They should receive more than they have and should have been more protected than they were.