by John T Murphy, MS, RRT
It was sometime in mid to late March 2020 that most Indy area hospitals began to see local community members presenting with respiratory distress of mild to severe ranges often coupled with fever and cough. Over the last four months, so much has been reported about persons positive for COVID-19 disease. Each facility has undoubtedly developed standards for ruling out suspected (for COVID-19) or working with Persons Under Investigation (PUI) for this illness. Much information is being shared by Universities, Medical Centers, the World Health Organization (WHO), CDC, FDA, and local Health agencies about COVID-19 and the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Some days we wonder what we have learned, if anything really, but we have succeeded as a cohort of “front line” care-givers in a community of respiratory therapists, physicians, and nurses among others. We succeeded in learning what we need to know how to care intently and protect fiercely. We shared success with many patients and saw others slip away from healing. Over the span of most of our careers and lives, none of us have seen an event as commanding as this pandemic and we can easily see many human factors about safeguarding wellness, – and reaping benefits of compliance or suffering against careless choices. As we see the pandemic through and deal with the ramifications of its aftermath, let us all draw on our successes and continue to raise the bar to learn how to care deeply and live well. We know there is more care to come. I personally recommend the COVID-19 Discussion Group on the AARC as so very valuable. I have learned a lot and still do today. It is incredibly helpful to learn the real-time issues and solutions from other RT’s in the country especially in the emerging hotspots. Thanks AARC Connect.
