At this point, we know that the coronavirus crisis in New York has reached a tipping point. The number of COVID-19 cases is staggering, as it's become the new epicenter of the virus. But even scarier is the fact that soon there won't be enough ventilators for everyone who needs them. Hospitals are already at capacity, and doctors and nurses on the front lines are being pressed to their absolute limits. But the most urgent issue right now is their lack of personal protective gear for everyone who needs it.
One brave mom who is on front lines of the pandemic has been speaking out about the desperate situation. In a now-viral tweet, Dr. Cornelia Griggs, a pediatric surgeon in New York City, shared a photo of herself wearing protective medical gear. Along with the image, she shared a moving plea for personal protective gear and spoke directly to her children, as well.
The picture has gone viral since Dr. Griggs shared it on Sunday. It's definitely striking a chord as people learn how urgent the situation in New York, and across the US, has become. But perhaps it's the fact that she also directed the message, in part, to her children, who are too young to understand what's happening and all their mother is doing in this fight, that has people moved by her message.
In the brief post she wrote, "My babies are too young to read this now. And they’d barely recognize me in my gear. But if they lose me to COVID I want them to know Mommy tried really hard to do her job." It's direct, and because of that, there's a lot of power behind her words.
We haven't quite had a crisis of this proportion. It can be hard to imagine how many doctors and nurses may become ill because of this outbreak. While it feels impossible to wrap our heads around it right now, the reality feels closer all the time. Hospitals don't have what they need, and the impacts of that may be huge and disastrous.
She ended her post with the hashtag #GetMePPE. The hashtag is being used by medical professionals all over the globe. It’s meant to call attention to the shortage of personal protective equipment that health care workers are facing.
This is not the first time we've heard from this doctor. She's definitely using her platform wisely, in hopes that this issue will be taken seriously. She recently wrote an op-ed in the New York Times. That piece was published earlier this month.
"Patients are lining up outside of our emergency rooms and clinics looking to us for answers — but we have few … Making my rounds at the children’s hospital earlier this week, I saw that the boxes of gloves and other personal protective equipment were dwindling," she wrote. "This is a crisis for our vulnerable patients and health care workers alike."
Dr. Griggs is doing incredibly important work right now, not just in her work with patients but also in helping the greater public to understand what's happening behind the scenes.
Of course, there are a lot of people who are hard at work to ensure that hospitals get what they need. People across the globe have been hand-sewing masks. Other businesses and organizations are coming together to produce them, as well. General Motors has been tasked with producing hundreds of new ventilators, too.
Dr. Grigg’s op-ed continued, “Please flatten the curve and stay at home, but please do not go into couch mode,” she wrote. “We might be the exhausted masked face trying to resuscitate you when you show up on the doorstep of our hospital. And when you do, I promise not to panic. I’ll use every ounce of my expertise to keep you alive. Please, do the same for us.”
There are so many people who are trying to help right now. Perhaps that's the silver lining here. So many citizens are coming together to do whatever they can, whether it's making masks, donating blood, or simply staying home. The fact is that right now, we all have an important duty to do, even if it looks like sitting on the couch.
No one's work is more important right now than those doctors and nurses working hard on the front lines, though. They are truly heroes, and we can only hope that they will get what they need in the coming days so they can be protected.
Dr. Griggs' message is so important for us to see. One day, her kids will see it as well and understand just what their mother went through to help fight this pandemic.
