A doctor in New York was welcomed with applause as he goes back to work after healing from COVID-19. His heroism is something that the world celebrates with love amid the uncertainties and fear brought by the virus.
Doctors Affected by COVID-19
COVID-19 is one of the scariest illnesses that has ever hit mankind, particularly because it claimed the precious lives of so many doctors and people working in the health industry. With positive cases nearing the 2 million mark across the world as of April 13, 22:40 GMT, the virus has greatly affected the entire world.
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Yet many doctors and other healthcare workers affected by the virus actually return to work after getting better! One of these is heart and vascular surgeon Dr. Paul Saunders who returned to his post at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, just a few days after recovering from COVID-19.
Saunders contracted the virus from a patient whom he would later still continue to monitor despite himself also getting sick of COVID-19. Thankfully, the doctor only had a mild case and was so thankful to survive the illness that he didn’t waste time to get back to work after making a full recovery.
On his first day of duty, staff and hospital workers who clapped in the lobby to welcome him back to work.
“Thank you very much. (This is) totally unexpected and undeserved but thank you all for coming to work and for working so hard… Happy to be back,” he said, surprised of the overwhelming welcome he received from everyone.
“Everyone’s working so hard and the whole time I was home, I was just anxious to get back, just get back and get back to work.”
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Special Treatment for COVID-19
Trained in a specialized treatment against COVID-19 called ECMO or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, Saunders is truly a valuable member of the hospital team. So, his arrival back at the hospital was such a big relief for everyone.
“ECMO provides us a way to basically … do the job of their lungs. Some people describe it as intravenous oxygen,” he explained. However, the treatment is done only as a ‘last resort’ and that the hospital had to carefully assess and choose which patients will have to undergo the procedure.
“Obviously with so many people being so sick, ECMO is still a relatively scant resource so we have to use it very judiciously and apply it to patients who really are failing every other possible treatment strategy. We have to be very careful as to who we’re going to offer it to and making sure that those patients are ones that are, really have a good chance of a good benefit.”