Tired of it. I’ve presently got hundreds of active covid patients. I won’t go into detail, and fortunately I’ve only ended up physically seeing a few dozen of them (and tested negative subsequently). I’m high risk for death from covid after all (as is my daughter who lives with me), and as a result all my work is now done remotely, with my solid gold nursing team bearing the heaviest burden of seeing them and reporting relevant stuff to me for action. So many other health care folks have it far, far harder than I.
Can you tell us anything about the precautions in your prison? Is there space to isolate sick prisoners? Is the staff getting tested regularly? Are the guards wearing masks? Do you have any input on policies?
Not going to go into details, but I’ve been impressed with how hard admin has worked to get all to do the right thing, especially with the ‘right thing’ changing weekly, if not daily. Herculean effort has been expended by so many to keep our patients and staff safe. Yet physical reality of the virus and the institutions, plus human foibles make it impossible to keep the virus out completely. And my input has been heard also.
I’m glad to hear that. I’ve been a regular listener to Ear Hustle, a podcast created by current and former inmates at San Quentin, and the reports from there were alarming. A different perspective to be inside, I’m sure, but it sounded quite poorly handled there.
That’s all that can be asked in this world. Mad props to the team (nurses rock!) and may you and yours stay safe and thus able to keep doing the good work.
Vent. Vent away. This is a real stressful time mentally. And people need to talk. I have a friend who is a radiologist up there in Milwaukee, and he was on top of this as it started happening. I know you’re a physician as well. He worked through MERSA and SARS. He sounded the alarm bells for this one. He’s a realist. Back in March, things were dark from him, but now I hear hope in his voice. He seems to think by spring, we’ll be better. I hope so. We all need hope.
