“Living the surreal experience of the COVID-19 pandemic challenges us on multiple levels. As a physician, I feel the responsibility to understand the magnitude of the situation and implement the best measures to protect my patients, trainees, my …
Category: COVID-19 / coronavirus
Unmasking inequality: the power of community organization during COVID-19
In medical school, I was charged with caring for Ms. R, a 47-year-old woman with type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and rheumatoid arthritis. She had been flagged as a high priority patient through the student-run free clinic (SRFC) and assigned to me for …
Shelter in the age of COVID
“Oh, a storm is threatening My very life today If I don’t get some shelter Ooh yeah, I’m gonna fade away.” -The Rolling Stones Shelter. It’s a safe-sounding word, a comforting word, a good ending to the story word. We have…
This pulmonary physician has a message for you [PODCAST]
“To the people who say that wearing a mask perpetuates the conspiracy: Tell that to the health care workers who have put their lives at risk to face firsthand an unknown disease. Tell that to the families of frontline workers who have contracted …
A patient’s plea: I don’t know who to put my trust in
Do you wake up these days thinking that you’ve been whisked off your feet by some strange force and dropped in some unidentifiable place, similar to what happened to Dorothy and Toto in the Wizard of Oz? For the two of them, there was a happy en…
When an epidemic of violence against health care workers meets a pandemic
“Sir, please calm down,” she says nervously, glancing around to see if anyone had noticed their interaction. “No, I will not calm down. Where is your boss? You don’t know what you are doing!” He gets up and starts walking …
The children of COVID
If you ignore the masks, the missing exam room toys, and the “astronaut doctor” PAPR on my head, you might think it was a regular day in my pediatric office. But it’s not. It’s a day where we are still all trying to push through the thickness in the ai…
Doctoring in the age of COVID and the possibility of dying in the near future
On January 19, the first case of the coronavirus in the United States was announced. Initially, COVID cases were detected in Washington. As time elapsed, other states did best to prepare for if and when COVID came to our area. As spring break arrived, …
COVID-19 in Italy: the good, the bad, and the ugly
The good Italians star at disorganization, disobedience, and discord. They sneak past no-entry signs, light up under no-smoking signs, barrel along at 80 in 35 mph zones, fasten their seat belts under their butts. Plus, they had the worst COVID-19 epid…
Treating cancer patients in a pandemic [PODCAST]
“As an oncologist, perhaps the hardest part I play is as witness. I am there to give a diagnosis that, more often than not, will alter someone’s life forever. For some, I see resignation—a sense that they’ve known something was wrong and that it’…
