COVID-19: Voices From the Community
Recognizing the importance of staying connected with the community, our CHEST frontline clinicians share their experiences and plans for the future as they navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY BLOG
By: Sarah Tapyrik, MD, FCCP
Published: October 26, 2020
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical students were thrown into a world of uncertainty, with delayed exams and rescheduled rotations. But these unique challenges could add to their resilience and problem-solving abilities moving forward.
By: Michael Harrison, MD, PhD, MPH; Devang Sanghavi, MD, MHA, FCCP; Klaus Torp, MD; Jorge Mallea, MD; and Pablo Moreno Franco, MD, FCCP
Published: October 1, 2020
As the COVID-19 pandemic surged, clinicians faced challenges in providing respiratory support for critically ill patients. One team came up with an innovative, yet inexpensive and easy solution that helped prevent the need for intubation purely for hypoxia.
By: Matthew C. Miles, MD, MEd, FCCP
Published: September 21, 2020
A young patient with COVID-19 was not improving after weeks of treatment—so the hospital took extraordinary efforts to allow his mother to safely visit. The experience showed one physician the healing power of a family’s love.
By: Holly Keyt, MD, FCCP
Published: September 18, 2020
As COVID-19 has spread across the world, there has been concern that people with cystic fibrosis may have more severe infections due to the novel virus, similar to 2009 with the H1N1 influenza pandemic.
COMMUNITY VIDEOS
Critical: Coronavirus in Intensive Care
A new documentary features the experiences of ICU staff on the COVID-19 front lines at Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, Wales. The area was one of the United Kingdom’s coronavirus hotspots, with more cases per capita than anywhere outside London. Filmed by CHEST member Tamas Szakmany, MD, PhD, and his colleagues on mobile phones and small cameras, the film provides first-person perspectives on the challenges and successes faced during the first month of the coronavirus crisis.
Gretchen R. Winter, MD
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, AL
"Check in with your friends. Check in with your co-workers, and check in with anyone around you—because we all need help right now."
Salman Ali, MBBS
Liaquat National Hospital
Karachi, Pakistan
"As the lockdown and restrictions eased up, the influx of patients has increased significantly."
Video Archives
S M Abdullah Al Mamun, MD, MBBS, FCCP
Evercare Hospitals
Dhaka, Bangladesh
"Because of our suspicion from the very beginning, we treated [the patient] as a case of COVID-19, and all the proper precautions were taken...fortunately, none of us are positive."
Sabiha Raoof, MBBS, FCCP
Medisys Health Network
Queens, NY
"I want to thank all those physicians who have shown their interest in coming to New York, volunteering here, and helping our physicians."
Vincent Gould, APRN-BC
UT Health San Antonio
San Antonio, TX
"A lot of us have fears related to possibly bringing a COVID transmission home, as we're aware of these asymptomatic carriers that can happen for up to 14 days."
Nneka O. Sederstrom, PhD, MPH, MA, FCCP
Children's Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN
"We know that some of our populations that are socioeconomically disadvantaged that are the result of institutional and systemic racism mean that they will be getting COVID more prevalently and worse. So how do we try and address those kinds of issues?"
Ihtzaz Bashir Chaudary, III, MBBS
Aziz Bhatti Teaching Hospital
Gujrat, Pakistan
"What I have experienced...is that the severity of disease is not as reported in the US and Europe, like in Italy, France, and Germany. I have seen a different pattern of disease."
Candace A Huebert, MD, FCCP
University of Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, Nebraska
"I've seen terrific collaboration in every aspect of the medical system, in terms of working with other divisions—infectious disease, other departments. Critical care/anesthesia has been a terrific collaborator, as have the surgical services."
Steven Q. Simpson, MD, FCCP
CHEST President-Elect and COVID-19 Task Force Chair
KU Medical Center
Kansas City, Kansas
"Of course, many people in my group look at me and say, you're an old man, you're at high risk, so you should probably stay out of here. I don't know—this is what we signed up for, I think."