Spending this New Years Eve in my apartment getting ready for several days back on the medicine wards starting tomorrow morning. Grateful to have a roof overhead, to have health, to have received the vaccine. So many of the patients we care for don’t get any of these luxuries.
2/ The perspective that we get in caring for people who are sick & struggling is so important. In a year when we have been primed to judge others & fight w/ one another, the hospital reminds me what humanity & empathy look like. We need these values front & center, which is hard
3/ It’s hard bc lives are on the line- many of us have lost loved ones to the epidemic already, & many others will in the coming weeks. I understand this; there were times I have wanted to judge or shame people for making “selfish” decisions when I had to go work in a hospital
4/ But over time, it became so clear how much people were struggling from the other effects of the epidemic; patients coming in having relapsed alcoholism; suicide attempts; lost jobs, lost homes, off meds — the list goes on. And you would never guess it from the outside.
5/ There were times earlier this year that I tweeted “stay home”— but once I started caring for #covid19 patients, it again became clear that most of the people getting sick could never afford to stay home.
Yes, a few people perhaps were “reckless”; most were not that.
Yes, a few people perhaps were “reckless”; most were not that.
6/ And even those “reckless” few that could have avoided transmission were not evil, heartless people; most were extremely regretful, some were clearly misinformed; others ended up in situations they never intended to. I honestly can’t rmr caring for any strict “Covid deniers”
7/ I’m sure they are out there; maybe they are more densely congregated in different parts of the country; even so, I am willing to bet the majority of this country is filled w/ good people who are truly struggling during a terrible year.
8/ Every day in the hospital, as much as we see evil in the form of disease, so too do we see goodness in the form of people who care for each other.
You’ll find genuine love, often times family & friends, other times nursing & other frontline staff who go above and beyond
You’ll find genuine love, often times family & friends, other times nursing & other frontline staff who go above and beyond
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