The first three months of the pandemic Dr. McVea lead on pure adrenaline. Organizing and training staff every other day and retraining as new information came from the CDC. “Working long days without a day off, I was not sleeping well. It was a lot a responsibility. I didn’t want patients to die or employees to get Covid. I wanted to ensure we were doing everything possible to keep our community healthy.” OneWorld has seen how the pandemic cannot be taken lightly. “Early on we had two young dads present with Covid” said Dr. McVea. “Neither of them had underlying health issues. They tried to stick it out too long at home and they both left behind young children. The toll of telling people bad news is very hard – it is a heavy burden to carry.” Weather in person or on the phone “to hear someone scared, isolated and short of breath. It has been hard on all frontline staff.” “A few weeks ago a patient who I have been caring for the last fifteen years passed away. She had health issues and would come in to see me regularly. We all got to know her. She was very “To hear someone scared, isolated and short of breath – has been hard on all frontline staff.”
positive and she was doing well. She died at home before she could get her Covid results back. That hit me very hard” said Dr. McVea. “After everything we had worked on together to help her live a long healthy life.” The toll of this pandemic on people, our nation and the world has been unlike anything most of us have seen. The suffering is hard to put into words. In our community, South Omaha in particular, has experienced increased suffering. People have been afraid to go to work, but many OneWorld patients have been left with no choice in order to provide for their families. Those who contracted the virus were often quarantined without pay and many have been laid off as businesses struggle. The demand for food and essentials among OneWorld patients and the
ISSUE 1 2021 I 5 I OneWorldOmaha.org
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online