I’ll never forget the day I was notified our first COVID-19 patient was being transferred to Research Medical Center. Many thoughts raced through my head for my co-workers and what we were about to face, for our community members and how this would change their lives, and for my own family. How would I keep my 5-year-old daughter protected from what I would be seeing firsthand every day?
We were facing a new adversary that we were still learning so much about. So many elements were unknown, and uncertainty was more present than what we had experienced in a long time as a society. I made the hardest decision that I will probably ever have to make: I decided the best way to keep my daughter safe while I cared for COVID patients was for us to live separately. I spent seven long weeks separated from my daughter, who stayed with my parents eight hours away where she was isolated and safe. During our evening video chats, she showed me what she had learned or what activity she had done that day.