Collected Item: “David Lerner Oral History, 2021/03/01”
Title
David Lerner
Who conducted the interview? List all names, separated by comma.
Kit Heintzman
Who was interviewed? List all names, separated by commas.
David Lerner
Email Address(es) for all interviewers. Separated by comma.
kheintzman@gmail.com
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your oral history. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#dating, #Detroit, #essentialworker, #exercise, #family, #hospitals, #immunocompromised, #J&J, #Jewish, #Kosher, #masking, #mentalhealth, #Michigan, #nonbinary, #PPE, #pharmacy, #queer, #radio, #resilience, #restaurants, #therapy, #trauma, #Trump, #vaccination
What is the format of your recording?
Video
In what ZIP code is the primary residence of the interviewee? (enter 5-digit ZIP code; for example, 00544 or 94305)? In what city/town/village does the interviewee live? In what country does the interviewee live? All comma-separated.
Ironmountain, Michigan
What is the gender of the interviewee? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their gender in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a gender identity to interviewees.*
queer/nonbinary They/he
What is the age of the interviewee?
35 to 44
How does the interviewee describe their race or ethnicity? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their race/ethnicity in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a racial or ethnic identity to interviewees.*
White
Describe the oral history.
Some of the things we discussed include:
- Growing up raised as a Chabad Hasidic Jew and leaving the religion, returning to school and entering the workforce as a pharmacy technician.
- Working in a hospital pharmacy at the beginning of the pandemic.
- First hearing about the pandemic in January 2020 from the BBC.
- Choosing to mask pre-mandate.
- Tensions in the workplace.
- Hospital administration carrying on as usual, workers being laid off.
- Hospitals making money off of elective procedures, which stopped during the pandemic, lots of terminated and unrenewed contracts.
- Sending medicine off to patients on ventilators.
- Some of the beliefs circulating early in the pandemic before there was much knowledge/certainty.
- The importance of pharmacy technicians in the everyday operations of a hospital and healthcare treatment.
- Temporary and contract work in the healthcare industry.
- Therapy and mental illness.
- Living with parents, including +65-year-old father who is immunocompromised; isolating within the home and going grocery shopping.
- The uncertainty about Trump leaving office in January 2021.
- Wasted vaccination vials, problems with rollouts.
- The inadequacies of the American relief package.
- Still having limited access to PPE, N95s.
- That parts of the USA lack potable water, problems with air quality.
- Sense of safety changing post vaccination.
- Getting advice from healthcare professionals, the CDC, the news.
- Missing dating and meeting new people.
- Struggling with self care.
- The resiliency and bravery of working people.
- The consequences of quackery.
Other references: Walgreens, Lovenox, Pyxis and Omnicell machines, Facebook, The Washington Post, The New York Times, CDC
- Growing up raised as a Chabad Hasidic Jew and leaving the religion, returning to school and entering the workforce as a pharmacy technician.
- Working in a hospital pharmacy at the beginning of the pandemic.
- First hearing about the pandemic in January 2020 from the BBC.
- Choosing to mask pre-mandate.
- Tensions in the workplace.
- Hospital administration carrying on as usual, workers being laid off.
- Hospitals making money off of elective procedures, which stopped during the pandemic, lots of terminated and unrenewed contracts.
- Sending medicine off to patients on ventilators.
- Some of the beliefs circulating early in the pandemic before there was much knowledge/certainty.
- The importance of pharmacy technicians in the everyday operations of a hospital and healthcare treatment.
- Temporary and contract work in the healthcare industry.
- Therapy and mental illness.
- Living with parents, including +65-year-old father who is immunocompromised; isolating within the home and going grocery shopping.
- The uncertainty about Trump leaving office in January 2021.
- Wasted vaccination vials, problems with rollouts.
- The inadequacies of the American relief package.
- Still having limited access to PPE, N95s.
- That parts of the USA lack potable water, problems with air quality.
- Sense of safety changing post vaccination.
- Getting advice from healthcare professionals, the CDC, the news.
- Missing dating and meeting new people.
- Struggling with self care.
- The resiliency and bravery of working people.
- The consequences of quackery.
Other references: Walgreens, Lovenox, Pyxis and Omnicell machines, Facebook, The Washington Post, The New York Times, CDC
On what date did you record this oral history?
2021-03-01T15