GP’s emotional plea as nurse dies from COVID

Hours after the death of a nurse who died from COVID-19 on the weekend, a general practitioner on Monday made a tearful appeal to Barbadians to follow the COVID-19 protocols and urged them not to leave home unnecessarily.

In a six-minute-long video circulating on social media, Dr Kia Lewis of Kairos Medical Clinic and Lifestyle Centre in Arch Hall, St Thomas, who said she was hurting over the death of the nurse and the overall struggle of frontline workers as they risk their lives to treat COVID-19 patients and contain the virus, urged members of the public to think before they act.

She said: “Last night we got the news that we lost one of our nurses. And while every death has been difficult, this one really hit me. I woke up this morning literally crying. Not the first time of course. And I have been seeing patients throughout the day. And I have been trying to compose myself while I am seeing the patient. Just crying in between. And I am not making this video because I want anybody’s sympathy. I really don’t care.

“This is a job that I have chosen to do and I love it. We put our lives at risk. We are still seeing patients. We still have to go into people’s homes if they can’t get to us. We still have to go back home to our families because there is nowhere else for us to go. And I am quite aware that there are other doctors who are working in much more high-risk situations than I am.

“There are people working in A&E [Accident and Emergency]. There are people working swabbing in the polyclinics. There are people who are working at Harrison’s Point and the struggle is very real for them. So I am not making this for sympathy. I want you to know that there are real people who are fighting this battle and all over the world those people have suffered and sacrificed their lives and died.”

Based on the significant sacrifices healthcare workers have been making to help the country overcome the health crisis, Dr Lewis said Barbadians should stop and think before they decide to slip through their hairdresser’s backdoor, visit their eye-lash technician, or their nail technician to get their nails done, despite an ongoing national lockdown that started on February 3 and has now been extended until the end of the month.

She continued: “Before you jump on Facebook and order food because you don’t feel like cooking today, before you decide that you cannot stay away from your friend that lives down the street because after all we are just friends and we are always mixing up in one another so there is nothing wrong with it.

“Before you decide that you can go next door, or see your relatives down the street, I want you to think about the people who are literally putting their lives at risk, putting their families at risk, to protect yours, and ask yourself if what you are about to go and do is worth it, because it is not.”

As she struggled to hold back tears, the young GP said that people should not have to go to work and wonder whether they would take back home the virus that could potentially kill them or their families.

She made clear that the fact stands that not just doctors and nurses are working on the frontline; cashiers, gas station attendants, and hospitality industry workers, are scared to return home from work because they do not want to possibly expose their loved ones to the virus.

“They have to be out there,” she said.

“And I know it is hard for people who are at home and not making an income. I know it has to be difficult. But you see all of this running to the supermarket for everything, running at people that you don’t need to be at, out in the street congregating, out on the beach on Sunday mornings or whenever you go, laughing and talking up with people like nothing is happening, like there aren’t people who are dying, like there aren’t people who are under severe stress trying to keep this country afloat, it has to stop.”

The doctor said those with a conscience would hear and understand the importance of her message.

Said Dr Lewis: “Every time that you get up to leave home, I don’t care who it is to go to, who it is to see or what justification you have for it, anytime you get up to leave home unnecessary, you are putting somebody’s life at risk and you are a part of the problem. And we are going to be stuck here longer than we need to be. Before you make that next bad decision, and yes, I said it, bad decision, selfish decision, I want you to think.

“And yes, it is hard to stay at home, it is hard not to be able to enjoy the things that you are used to. But it is harder to watch people die, it is harder to watch people suffer. It is harder to not be able to access proper care for our patients because the system is overwhelmed. It is harder for us who are working 24/7 behind the scenes because things are so out of control.”

Dr Lewis acknowledged that she too was upset about aspects of the overall management of the COVID-19 pandemic and the circumstances that led to the local outbreak, but declared that the time has come for the blame game to end.

(anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)