Motivators
CallingCOVID.com
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As a reminder here, the first "targets" of our Challenge are those who are still Actively iLL with COVID-19.
But there are others who have dedicated their lives to caring for others. They are the ones on the "front lines" throughout our world as you read this. No matter when you are reading this. They are there. They are each day caring for those who are sick with COVID-19.
They do this tirelessly, though tired, and with true courage. A courage that they perhaps never evan knew they had. They work each day after devoting a large part of their mental energy to overcoming their personal fears about getting the infectious disease of those they are caring for. But they go in to work nevertheless.
You already know that the vast majority of those who have contracted COVID-19 will not be very sick. A large number will be asymptomatic or not feeling sick at all, though contagious for a time.
At the risk of adding here to a readers anxiety, some get quite sick, a small percentage are critical and a smaller percentage (4% of cases), do not survive. We have all heard the numbers for months now. One reason for coming to this site for some, is to get away from all those numbers. I won't disturb them further.
But we must include in the Challenge each day, our intentions for those at the COVID-19 patients' bedsides. They are not all in hospitals. We have in our mind's eye those images of doctors and nurses and others, dressed in PPE. They all look the same now. Gone are the white labcoats and stethoscopes around the neck. But some providing this required care at home. Especially in poorer countries. Doing the best they can. They too should be part of our premise that caring at a distance for those who care, should be included in our twenty minutes.
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Here are some words from the front lines.
Some are physicians, like Anna Deforest. Here, she shares her day with you.
Some are Medical Students, pressed into duty before all has been learned, but with just enough to somehow still be of use. Or so they hope. But they are there now with the others. They are running to the Labs and Radiology Departments around the world for results of tests. They are running for fresh masks and warm coffee. They are dressing wounds, because there are always wounds to dress. They are on the "front lines." A bit like photos of groups of young soldiers of the past, rounded up especially at the ends of wars when the men were all gone. Looking so much like children in those pictures because they were.
Some are physicians in training. Called Residents in the USA, 'Assistants' or 'Junior Doctors' in some other countries. But they are there, on the "front lines." They are Physicians because they have graduated from Medical School. As Residents they are in training, and still learning. Not too long ago they selected a discipline that they felt they loved, and were giving their all to prove that decision to have been the right one for them. Perhaps in Internal Medicine, or Neurology, Pediatrics or Ophthalmology, perhaps General Surgery. But now, they have all become COVID-19 Doctors. That is their new Specialty: COVID-19. And under the continuous pressure to learn and do, while "first, do(ing) no harm," they are faced with an illness without a cure. This is not appencitis, nor delivering a set of sceaming twins to tearful, ecstatic parents. Instant gratification for the new doctor.
Now, getting to a good result so they can applaude a patient going home, seems to take many days. Nothing instant about it. Except in those moments when its suddenly all to late. This is COVID-19.
Here, as Anna did above, Allison Sarah Vise will share her day wih you.
A first quite normal reaction is of course that from where you are, you can do nothing to help either Anna or Allison. So reading their artcles, a bit like reading a personal private diary, just leaves you uncomfortable. Maybe even angry at some cause of all this COVID-19 disaster. Angry and frustrated with whomever or whatever you feel you have identified as the culprit.
But you prefer not to read any more like these because, what can you possibly do to help?
And then, there is the Challenge. With all of its uncertainties.
But already shared by those like you, and in increasing numbers.
And during that time, 20 minutes, you are quite free to send Anna and Allison, and all those whom they represent, all that you can place in your clear intention, to give them the strength they currently need. You can even share with them what their articles made you find in yourself. Be there with others to renew their and the world's sense of hope. To find anew perhaps, a sense of trust in those sharing our planet as it spins through space with us all aboard.
That image alone should make it clear that we are all in this together. And that will be as true no matter how the next elections, in any country, turn out.
Join with others each day, at 12:00 noon GMT, and meet the Challenge.
Don't be late.
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Here is what I wrote to Adeline's parents and family.
To those who loved and cared for Adeline. I am a retired General Surgeon and ICU Director. I too was once a Resident in training (1980-'86, in DC). So everything about Adeline's illness and unfortunate outcome touches my heart. Tears it apart. And when I see your family picture I think of mine, and how training and caring for the sick wasn't always easy. You have learned that too I'm sure, as Adeline certainly did. Your details about the science of her care remind how wonderful science can be. But it's not enough by itself. We need to tip the scales of healing so people can move beyond the limits of science to accept that the intention to heal, in and of itself, ... that compassionate intention, is 60% (my estimate from 30 years in the field) of getting someone healed. I have put down my scalpel, but not that intention in all of its manifestations. Some in Houston where I understand you are, and all over the world, have already joined with us each day for 20 minutes at 12noon GMT with the intention of healing this illness in our world. Sound weird, "woo! woo!" and simply dumb, and a waste of 20 minutes? Most today would say that. Years ago as an ICU Director, and buried in my surgical research, I might have said that. But I always placed that compassionate intention in my healing. Every time. And as I'm sure Adeline was learning to do. Enough said. Enough of a pitch. My heart and the love it can share, even at a distance, is with you all in this impossible time. Adeline is still loved. Adeline will not be forgotten. https://www.callingcovid.com/
So join with others each day, at 12:00 noon GMT, and meet the Challenge.
Don't be late.
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