These are the photos and stories of medical professionals on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The idea behind this series is it will help to humanize the crisis, illustrate the gravity of the situation, and encourage people to stay home when at all possible and practice social distancing to both stop the spread and prevent our emergency rooms and ICUs from collapsing.
We can’t force doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to turn away the sick; to face the impossible and the unthinkable. We need to allow them to do their incredibly admirable jobs. They are real-life heroes, putting themselves and their families at risk every day to save the lives of others, and now more than ever, they desperately need our help. ♥️
If you’re a medical professional on the COVID-19 front lines, please send your masked selfie and story to kelly@kellyinthecity.com with the subject line “SELFIE.”
#stayhome
This is Peggy and James, and their one-year-old daughter. On the COVID-19 front lines every day, Peggy is an emergency room doctor at two hospitals in Los Angeles, and James is an internal medicine hospitalist working at several sites in LA County.
Peggy says that talking with her patients has been challenging. She recently had to tell a patient who was very short of breath that he was COVID-19 positive. The man, visible shaken, asked whether he was going to die, explaining that he had a wife and three young children at home. Peggy tried to focus on the positives, but knowing that so many COVID-19 patients deteriorate rapidly, she couldn’t lie.
“We have to be realistic and honest,” she says sadly. “I told him that we couldn’t be sure.”
Peggy and James take extraordinary safety precautions, but they’re still unbelievably worried for their young daughter, who’s home with their nanny–their best option for childcare right now.
“It’s nerve-racking,” Peggy says. “I struggle with the worry and guilt of continuing to live and be in close contact with her.”
Please help prevent our country’s healthcare system from collapsing, and stay home when at all possible so that heroes like Peggy and James can bravely do their jobs and save American lives.
Thank you, Peggy and James, for your your courage, sacrifice and service. ♥️
This is Rin. She’s a nurse working the COVID-19 ward at a hospital on the Upper East Side in New York City, the American epicenter of the pandemic. These photos were taken when she took off her protective gear after a long 14-hour day battling the virus. Each staff member is given ONE N95 mask–for an entire week’s use.
“This shift started by admitting walking-and-talking patients,” Rin says. “Patients who looked normal but who slowly spiked a fever and then dropped in blood pressure and oxygen saturation… followed by ‘Code Blue,’ and then intubation and ventilator. As I’m still managing those patients, others start crashing. I’ve never seen patients crashing this fast before.”
“People are sick,” she continues. “They’re really sick, and they’re dying every day. We don’t have enough masks or protective gear. The new problem is that our hospital is facing a ventilator shortage. I hope the day doesn’t come when we have to prioritize who gets [one].”
Rin asks that if you can, stay put.
“People really need to stay home for this to end.”
Please help prevent our country’s healthcare system from collapsing, and stay home when at all possible and practice social distancing when it’s not, so that heroes like Rin can bravely do their jobs and save American lives.
Thank you, Rin, for your your courage, sacrifice and service. ♥️
This is Jeremy. He’s a Certified Flight Paramedic who’s responsible for in-flight critical care of patients during their transportation from rural areas to emergency rooms in Oklahoma’s larger cities. He works in incredibly close quarters with patients, thus risking exposure to COVID-19. “They practically lay in his lap, and they’re faced only a few feet apart from each other,” his wife, Amber, says. “The disaster is here. And he’s running into it.”
While Jeremy has his own patients, he’s also in and out of major hospitals where countless others with COVID-19 are being treated. This past week, he worked 110 hours.
Jeremy is a father to three young children, and on his days off, does volunteer work. “His giving heart makes me beyond proud,” Amber says. “We stay home so he can come home. I beg others to stay home, [too].”
Please help prevent our country’s healthcare system from collapsing, and stay home when at all possible and practice social distancing when it’s not, so that heroes like Jeremy can bravely do their jobs and save American lives.
Thank you, Jeremy, for your your courage, sacrifice and service. ♥️
This is Nicole. She’s a new neuroscience ICU nurse in Alabama. This photo was taken on her first day taking care of a COVID-19 patient. They were both afraid, so she wrote a simple note of support on his door–to encourage the two of them to keep fighting.
Nicole, like so many other medical professionals on the front lines of the pandemic, is terrified of spreading the virus to family; she goes home to a husband and two sons every day.
Nicole expresses gratitude to those who have been praying for her and all other essential workers, and she hopes that people will take the pandemic seriously and continue to flatten the curve.
“I never imagined I would be a nurse during a global pandemic,” she says. “Being a new nurse in an intensive care unit is sometimes scary enough…”
Please help prevent our country’s healthcare system from collapsing, and stay home when at all possible and practice social distancing when it’s not, so that heroes like Nicole can bravely do their jobs and save American lives.
Thank you, Nicole, for your your courage, sacrifice and service. ♥️
This is Amy, a nurse in a Maryland emergency department who spent hours in the isolation room you see here because she didn’t want her COVID-19 patient to die alone.
“No one deserves that,” she says.
Amy asks everyone reading to stay home.
“Stop having playdates and drinks with friends and family,” she pleads. “Stop going to the store unless you [really] need to. Stop saying ‘But it’s less than 10 people.'”
Please help prevent our country’s healthcare system from collapsing, and stay home when at all possible and practice social distancing when it’s not, so that heroes like Amy can bravely do their jobs and save American lives.
Thank you, Amy, for your your courage, sacrifice and service. ♥️
This is Christina and Jennifer, identical twin doctors on the front lines at the same hospital in metro Detroit, one of the country’s hardest-hit areas. The sisters–both attending physician anesthesiologists–belong to a team that places breathing tubes in patients with severe lung disease complications from COVID-19. It’s scary, and they worry about infecting themselves and their families. When they arrive home every day, they’re completely drained–and their kids have to be physically held back from them until they’re done showering and sanitizing everything that could have been exposed to the virus. What’s just as hard, though, is seeing their patients alone and terrified. They can’t have their families there with them, Christina says, and it’s heartbreaking.
Please help prevent our country’s healthcare system from collapsing, and stay home when at all possible and practice social distancing when it’s not, so that heroes like Christina and Jennifer can bravely do their jobs and save American lives.
Thank you, Christina and Jennifer, for your your courage, sacrifice and service. ♥️
These are Dr. Josh Scurlock’s children: Ryan, Griffin and Rory. Josh is a chief general surgery resident physician on the front lines of the pandemic at a Massachusetts hospital where most staff members receive one mask per day. Now helping to manage the ICU, he worries about his patients as well as exposing his wife and three young children to COVID-19. Ryan, Griffin and Rory–and their mom, @scscurlock–ask you to please stay home to stop the spread and keep their hero safe.
Please help prevent our country’s healthcare system from collapsing, and stay home when at all possible and practice social distancing when it’s not, so that heroes like Josh can bravely do their jobs and save American lives.
Thank you, Josh, for your your courage, sacrifice and service. ♥️
This is Jennelle. She’s the Charge Nurse responsible for a 54-bed medical-surgical unit at the biggest hospital in New Orleans, which has been hit tremendously hard by the pandemic. Her unit–as well as its 44-bed sister unit–houses all positive and suspected COVID-19 patients. Jennell also works at another facility on its COVID-19 floor when needed because they’re short-staffed. In an effort to protect her two-year-old son and three-year-old daughter, she changes and disinfects everything before entering her home. “Most of my staff are new nurses, and the daily pressures and ever-changing information are very overwhelming,” Jennell says, adding that she tries hard to be a positive role model for them.
Please help prevent our country’s healthcare system from collapsing, and stay home when at all possible and practice social distancing when it’s not, so that heroes like Jennell can bravely do their jobs and save American lives.
Thank you, Jennell, for your your courage, sacrifice and service. ♥️
This is Elizabeth. She’s the Charge Nurse responsible for a 60-bed emergency room in Boston. Every time a patient walks through the door, she has to ask herself “Could this patient have COVID-19?” and then strategically and carefully place the person in the most appropriate room within the department. She’s been forced to tell family members that they can’t be with their loved ones because the risk is too high; she’s had to call families and tell them that their loved ones are being intubated and sent to the ICU. Elizabeth is also tasked with coordinating with the inpatient floors and ICUs, and determining how to admit patients so that no one is accidentally exposed during transportation. And then, of course, she must make sure that her staff has the support they need, whether it’s supplies, breaks or a pick-me-up. “The days are long, but I hope with everyone staying inside, we can beat this and get back to our normal lives,” she says.
Please help prevent our country’s healthcare system from collapsing, and stay home when at all possible and practice social distancing when it is not so that heroes like Elizabeth can bravely do their jobs and save American lives.
Thank you, Elizabeth, for your courage and service. ♥️
This is Olevia. She’s an urgent care and family medicine doctor in New York and New Jersey on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. After two weeks of testing positive cases without N95 masks, medical friends in Florida and a local physical therapy friend sent her some much-needed personal protective equipment. “Friends pitch in when you ask for help,” she says. “This pandemic has shown me so much grace and unity. You’re not alone.”
Please help prevent our country’s healthcare system from collapsing, and stay home when at all possible and practice social distancing when it’s not, so that heroes like Olevia can bravely do their jobs and save American lives.
Thank you, Olevia, for your your courage, sacrifice and service. ♥️
This is Molly. She’s an emergency room nurse on the front lines of the pandemic in Chicago. Every day, she drives two hours to get to the hospital and then two hours back home to her children. Due to limited personal protective equipment, she needs to put gauze on her gear so the next medical professional can use it. With Molly’s permission, her team sent this photo in because she is so wonderfully upbeat and “always brings a smile to everyone, no matter the circumstance.”
Please help prevent our country’s healthcare system from collapsing, and stay home when at all possible and practice social distancing when it is not so that heroes like Molly can bravely do their jobs and save American lives.
Thank you, Molly, for your bravery, sacrifice and service. ♥️
This is Maggie. She’s a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist in New Jersey. In this photo, she’s gearing up to go into the operating room with a COVID-19 patient on the table.
Maggie is responsible for the intraoperative management of patients as well as intubating patients in respiratory failure both on the floor and in the ICU. As she’s in extremely close proximity with patients’ airways every day, she’s at a very high risk.
Because of personal protective gear shortages, Maggie has a regular mask over her N95 to protect it in case she needs to reuse it.
Thank you, Maggie, for your bravery and service. ♥️
This is Shannon. She’s a family medicine PA at a federally funded clinic in Salem, Oregon. Her clinic serves low-income patients, and it has a large homeless outreach program.
Right now, the clinic has an isolation tent where patients are evaluated and tested for COVID-19. Yesterday, she ran the the tent for 10 hours with one 20-minute lunch break. She can’t take additional breaks—even for the bathroom—because their personal protective equipment is so limited and would need to be switched out in order to do so. Currently, Shannon has one N95 mask.
“The only way we are protected is if people stay home because we don’t have the equipment to protect ourselves,” Shannon says. “It’s hard working long exhausting days and seeing so many ‘bored’ at home. It’s duty and we are honored that people put their trust in us to keep them safe. Now we need them to do the same for us!”
Thank you, Shannon, for your bravery and service. You are a hero. ♥️ #stayhome
This is Sue. She’s a nurse in an elderly care facility in New Jersey—and she’s also a wife, mother and grandmother. She worries about her patients, which are all high-risk; about not having enough masks; and about her family’s possible exposure to COVID-19 because of her work. She asks that you #stayhome, because she cannot. Thank you, Sue, for your bravery and service. ♥️
This is Emily, a Chicagoland Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist who is intubating patients every day, putting her at increased risk. Pregnant with her second baby boy while on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, Emily asks that if you’re healthy and it’s possible, to please practice social distancing–and check in on healthcare worker friends as they likely could use support during this time. Thank you, Emily, for your sacrifice and bravery. ♥️
This is my brother: Dr. Patrick Sheehan.
He’s an emergency room doctor, and brand new father to two-week-old baby Christopher, named after our dad. Patrick is on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic–willingly exposing himself to the virus so he can provide care to those who truly need it–but the country’s healthcare system is already becoming overwhelmed.
Today, I beg you to self-quarantine if at ALL possible, practice social distancing when it is not, and speak up when you see unsafe behavior. I know it’s difficult, especially when people around you aren’t taking the situation seriously yet. But we’re not in middle school. Stand up for what’s right.
If we learn from Italy, we can stop the spread and prevent emergency rooms and ICUs from collapsing. Don’t force doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to turn away the sick; to face the impossible and the unthinkable. Allow them to do their incredibly admirable jobs. They are real-life heroes, and now more than ever, they need our help.
Love you and proud of you, Patrick. ♥️
