Caring and Surviving COVID

“This was (is) unbelievable. Mid March, in response to the rise in the number of Covid deaths in the ER of the medical center I work in, I was identified as being a clinician that could be useful in providing hospice/end of life communication and conversations. Although I was new to emergency medicine ‘scene’ – I am an old hospice nurse – comfortable with death and dying. I am used to going where people are dying – the ER was not an exception. My family and friends were in a panic though. I routinely sent family and friends selfies –  to show them I had PPE on, or was drinking or smiling etc. After I fell ill and tested positive from Covid, my family said I couldn’t return to work until I had an ipad (not little cell phone) to video chat families. This was th day I returned (after securing an ipad) and smiling because I was ‘safer’ at a distance to teleconference with families AND back on the frontline.”