Many have already heard the same things to assist us... boost your immunity, stay well rested, stay well hydrated, social distancing, hand washing, etc. All good and valuable ideas to be aware of, but we asked ourselves what else is there? How can we use resources or influence to make a change? Please consider the following from Dr Fran Kendall as we face COVID-19.
TOGETHER I awaken multiple times each night gripped by fear and anxiety. I cry for the world at large, for my patients, for my colleagues, for my family and friends, for myself. I silently recall my early days in medicine, as a student, during the AIDS epidemic. We did not know the etiology of the strange and frightening disease but saw its ravaging effects. We knew it was blood-borne, found in secretions, and deadly. I recall vividly the moments caring for those fragile, broken, desperate people who silently and hopelessly watched you with lifeless, hollow eyes.
I shook with fear during every encounter, with each exam and procedure. But we collectively surmounted our angst, our heartbreak, prejudices, and intolerances, to conquer the unknown and destroy the threat from within and without.
We will rise again. Together, one selfless act at a time. The mask less nurse covered in the secretions of the dying, the physician who slumps to the ground racked with fatigue and despair, the public servant who works tirelessly to secure more supplies, the neighbor who buys groceries for a frail, sickly friend, a kind word to a sequestered patient, the young adult who stays at home to protect his elders.
We all have a role in this crisis, an opportunity for greatness, to be a leader among all others. A critical choice from one moment to the next, a choice for yourself, a choice for another. We WILL rise again, together, one selfless act at a time.
Fran Kendall, M.D.
