I Protected Myself
by | Jan 27, 2021 1:04 pm | Comments (1)
Contributed Photo
Wanda Gomez: You should protect yourself too.
As a Covid-19 survivor and first responder, I did not think twice about getting the vaccine.
Pandemic Diary
2nd Wave Hits Harder
by | Jan 8, 2021 1:44 pm | Comments (6)
Emily Hays Photo
Yale New Haven Hospital nurse Courtney Acker: This has to end.
Well into the second wave of the pandemic, the moment finally arrived: Courtney Acker saw a patient die of coronavirus on her watch.
Covid School, Day 1: Zzzzzz….
by | Sep 7, 2020 12:19 pm | Comments (22)
Simon Bazelon home at (remote) “school.”
At 7:25 a.m., the alarm went off. Five minutes later, I was in class.
My Shades Of Gray World Is Suddenly Black And White
by | Jul 22, 2020 9:50 am | Comments (0)
Ted Littleford
The doctor, veering off topic, told me that his wife took comfort in knowing that if the world got unbearably worse, there was always the black pill. That pill crosses my mind often in these death-laden days here in New York City, the former epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic. I wonder how often the doctor’s wife thinks of it and I hope not too much.
Continue reading ‘My Shades Of Gray World Is Suddenly Black And White’
Firefighter Fights 2 Months Of Covid
by | May 29, 2020 9:26 am | Comments (5)
Sam Gurwitt Photos
After her husband came home from transporting a patient to the hospital, Kim Talmadge didn’t realize that that call — unlike so many others that she and her husband respond to — would end up knocking her out for two months.
After ICU Shift, Coming Home To Family
by | May 22, 2020 3:02 pm | Comments (4)
Yale New Haven Hospital nurse Xavier Velez.
The Covid-19 patient was not doing well. As Xavier Velez tended to him, he was hit with a jolt — the patient reminded him of his own father.
Ramadan Offers Pause During Pandemic
by | May 20, 2020 1:55 pm | Comments (1)
Tanya Howell: Ramadan is beautiful, even now.
Ramadan came at just the right time this year for nurse Tanya Howell, even if it has required some adjustments.
Nursing Home Hell
by | May 6, 2020 1:56 pm | Comments (7)
Annette Korzick in her room a month before the lockdown.
My mom is in a nursing home, and while there have been many stories about the countless number of brave medical personnel, maintenance workers, kitchen staff working this nightmare, living it, dying it, there have not been many about the way it impacts a family — or in my case, a family member. Me.
ICU Nurse Pivots To “New Territory”
by | May 5, 2020 2:59 pm | Comments (2)
Acker (left): I’ve never worn so much PPE in my life.
Yale New Haven Hospital nurse Courtney Acker is used to seeing blood and the aftermath of serious accidents. What scares her more these days is the silence in Covid-positive patients’ rooms.
Covid Claims “Big E”
by | May 3, 2020 2:09 pm | Comments (3)
Big E in college circa 1963.
Mothers’ Day is coming up. Every year, I feel grateful that I get to make not one but two calls. Big E, my belated father’s only sibling and that “cool, badass aunt,” has always been like a second mother to me and countless other young people she has encountered throughout her life.
Cops Roll With “Change Of Conditions”
by | Apr 28, 2020 5:20 pm | Comments (2)
Detective Jeremy Cordero 18nytework Photo
Officer Kyle Listro and Patricia Lambe, Lt. Dell on Academy Hill.
The phone woke me up on a Sunday morning after my last Saturday night of dancing and dining pre-Covid. Assistant Chief Herbert Sharp was on the other end. I must have sounded half-asleep.
“You up?” he asked, and then told me that I needed to write a policy on the department’s response to Covid-19.
“A policy?” I asked.
Day 20: I’m A Fighter, Not A Quitter
by | Apr 24, 2020 2:44 pm | Comments (4)
Wanda Gomez, pre-Covid-19, with her grandson Jamell.
April 4 was a regular Saturday morning for me. Getting ready for my part-time job and starting my day.
The View From Inside The ER
by | Apr 19, 2020 4:54 pm | Comments (10)
My friends and family check in with me to ask what the Yale New Haven Hospital Emergency Department (ED), where I work as a physician, is like these days. I think they are expecting to hear gory details, as if a train wrecked right in the middle of the place.
The Distance Between Us Diminishes
by | Apr 13, 2020 11:38 am | Comments (5)
Chris Randall Photo
East Rock, from atop East Rock.
On a walk last week in East Rock, where Suzanne and I shelter 23 hours a day, we got ready to pass a young family coming in the opposite direction on the sidewalk. Normally, of course, this would not present any sense of panic; sidewalks are meant to be shared. But considering our tenuous circumstance these days, we were careful to keep our distance alongside Orange Street by stepping all over a well-tended lawn.
Doc Glimpses Coming Covid-19 “Storm”
by | Mar 29, 2020 3:16 pm | Comments (6)
Contributed Photo
On coronavirus duty: Aharon Benelyahoo.
Called in to help an athletic middle-aged patient keep breathing, Aharon Benelyahoo got a jolt — and a reminder of why he chose to become a doctor.
Burial In The Age Of Covid-19
by | Mar 20, 2020 1:13 pm | Comments (41)
Robert Bass at age 12.
Hugs are out. Hand sanitizer, in.
Those are among the new realities of burying loved ones in the Age of COVID-19.
I learned about those realities this week when we buried my brother.
Seniors Stuck In Stop & Shop Traffic Jam
by | Mar 19, 2020 9:57 am | Comments (12)
The first day of seniors-only hours produced pre-dawn lines like this one outside Stop & Shop stores.
Sales boomed this morning as Stop & Shop began seniors-only hours. The results of the new policy for customers like me, there to take advantage of hours (6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.) set aside for those over 60 –- a Coronavirus version of the Early Bird Special –- were not so healthy.
The Hamden store was overrun with customers, the aisles were jammed with traffic, the register lines ran forever, the manager hustled from checkout clerk to checkout clerk trying to speed the cashiering process while seniors queued up as they did in the old days – say, a month ago – before we knew we were especially at risk for a pandemic.