Edward, New Rochelle (NY), USA

Emergency Medicine Physician.

“Six weeks ago I recorded a interview with ABC News right here in my living room. It was the dawn of a new era. It was mid-week but the schools were closed and the streets were empty. There was no TV crew. My girlfriend, Anna, was the set designer, camera woman and director. We used 2 iPhones, and a Bose speaker to connect with my interviewer, Dave Abelson, who was sheltered-in-place with his Dad in Idaho. The subject of the interview was, “On the front line with Covid-19.” I am an Emergency Medicine Physician living in New Rochelle – ground zero for Covid-19 in the state of New York. As NY watched the virus spread across the globe, we too had started, unknowingly, to see Covid-19 patients at our local hospitals. Many of us had been exposed. Healthcare workers, physicians and nurses were quarantined. As a result, most of the area hospitals were already paralyzed as large numbers of critically ill patients quickly overwhelmed our capability to care for them. While our state was sheltered-in-place, I went to work and stared Covid-19 in its face, obsessed like most doctors around the world, with learning how to defeat it before it killed us first.  I did not see my children William, Malaya, Lyra or Luke for 4 weeks. This seemed like a small sacrifice as I cared for many who lost children, parents, grandparents, and multiple members of their families to Covid-19. The images of people suffering alone in isolation, the depth of fear in their eyes, and shock across their faces will be with me forever. I wish I could forget.  Fortunately, projects like this will help us remember these difficult emotions in a safe space and through our shared experiences”.