Being a frontline worker in the healthcare world during a 100-year pandemic is far from an easy task. In fact, it is a high risk task that has turned deadly on several occasions. Whether it’s being a nurse in a hospital, a family doctor at an urgent care, or an EMT, what they do widely goes unnoticed and they put their lives on the line for others.
I am the son of a doctor. My father would work from nine in the morning to 10-11 at night, working 80-hour work weeks when I was growing up. He would see around 25-40 patients a day, while having to fill out a medical summary on each patient, as well as work double-shifts when a doctor would be absent. From my observations throughout my childhood, I had first-hand observations on how hard healthcare workers work.
“Working long hours and working through a pandemic is what we signed up for,” said Karen Egan, nurse practitioner at St Mary’s medical center in Newtown, Pennsylvania. In regards to hospital workers, not only are they currently on the frontlines fighting the virus, a time where the hospitals are understaffed, running out of necessary supplies and a lack of safety for the healthcare workers.
Throughout the pandemic, many news articles have discussed how unprepared many hospitals have been. In August, hospitals in Houston, Texas simply ran out of beds for COVID-19 patients. This is completely unfair not only to the patients but to the healthcare workers as well.
1700 is the number of healthcare workers who have died during the pandemic. Healthcare workers barely get any rest. Their resilience and hard work are underappreciated and goes unnoticed. Healthcare workers are doing their jobs, providing medical aid to those who need it.
There is a stereotype that doctors get paid a lot so them working overtime and having 80-hour work weeks are justifiable. First of all, not every doctor gets paid 100,000 a year. Second of all a majority of healthcare workers are nurses with a doctorate degree. They are middle class citizens working very long hours to provide the best possible care to patients. Nurses are not dentists, EMT’s are not optometrists, not all healthcare workers are upper-class citizens. Risking your health for the safety of others, that deserves immense recognition. People in the field of medicine, majority of them have had to go into environments where they have a serious chance of catching the coronavirus.
What would our lives be like without healthcare workers. . Many doctors barely have time off; they work non-stop to make sure that their patients are perfectly okay and recovered. Doctors have to work through obstacles placed by insurance companies and big pharma reps.
Nurses at hospitals have to work through a lack of medical supplies and being understaffed. Healthcare workers do not go overseas and fight for the country, they do not play in front of thousands of fans. They don’t fight fires, or save people from burning buildings, but they are heroes in ways we do not think of, and we should be grateful for them.
