He is an old man with a stooped back, wearing tan work pants and shirt with his name on the right breast and his company’s name on the left. He has gotten out of his old Pontiac, and wearing a face mask, walks toward us as we come out of the dialysis center with an…
Month: May 2020
Surgical Masks and Aerosolization
COVID-19 is spread primarily in respiratory droplets. Here’s why you need to put a surgical mask on your patients and why we should all be wearing masks ourselves when we are in public. These illustrations come from a study by Vapotherm. COVID-19 Transmission Assessment Report
Shower
The fire department had three of their men in full gowns when we arrived. The patient was up on the fourth floor, unable to walk, they said. They weren’t certain what was wrong with him — he wasn’t answering questions–but he had been shaking and vomiting all morning, and he had just gotten out of…
A Home
A beautiful spring day. The sky is robin’s egg blue. The air smells like fresh cut grass. We cut our sirens on approach, and are driving now through the residential neighborhood. Kids are out on their bikes. There are joggers aplenty. Nearly every house has someone out beautifying their yard. Neighbors talk and laugh with…
Ghost
Death in a Nursing Home We’re called for a child not breathing. The address is a convalescent home. It makes no sense. Then we pull up. There is a car parked askance by the entrance, two front doors and a back door open. The engine still running. In the front lobby two nurses and a…