Page 30 - bon-dia-aruba-20200406

a30 feature/people & arts
Monday 6 april 2020
'I cried on the truck': Fatigued NY workers forge ahead

By WILL GRAVES A lot of us are only making lert said. "A lot of hospitals
Associated Press a couple dollars more than are overpacked. You got
Josh Allert's days are a blur minimum wage but I'm do- people in the hallways,
and a battle. ing this for my family, trying standing, sitting on chairs.
NEW YORK — His mental to help them out." You can see the staff inter-
and physical stamina are The sight of Allert coming acting with other patients.
constantly put to the test into a COVID-19 patient's Tensions are high, people
as the 22-year-old emer- room is typically good are frustrated."
gency medical technician news. Many of his runs dur- The job is not easy. He'd like
transports coronavirus pa- ing the epidemic have to receive hazard pay. He's
tients around New York. He centered around trans- not. He'd like his company
is burdened by the push- porting recovering patients to have a bigger stash of
and-pull between the de- back home to open up personal protection equip-
sire to help at the epicenter beds for the next in a seem- ment. It doesn't. He'd like
of the pandemic and the ingly unending wave. for things to return to some
knowledge doing so sepa- Yet the process is anything semblance of normal. It
rates him from the people but smooth. Whenever Al- won't.
he loves. He worries about lert enters a hospital, he is Maybe not for a long time.
getting sick or infecting his required to have his tem- So for now, he'll keep doing
perature taken before fill- what he can when he can.
ing out paperwork con- That means answering the
cerning his recent where- phone when it rings.
In this Saturday, April 4, 2020 photo, emergency medical abouts. That means giving himself
technician Josh Allert poses for a photo in New York. As he navigates hospital a self-administered breath-
Associated Press.
hallways in his protective ing test shortly after waking
family. "Technically I'm only part- gear, he walks into a sea up.
Sitting in an ambulance as time, but I know what the of patients on ventilators That means taking care of
it dashed across New York deal is," Allert said. fighting an opponent blind the people in front of him
City near the end of an- "There's a lot of patients go- to race, gender and cir- now in hopes he can take
other draining shift earlier ing in. They need us to take cumstance. care of the people closest
this week, the stress over- people out. ... It's hard work. "It's looking very grim," Al- to him the next day. q
whelmed him.
"I cried on the truck," Allert
told The Associated Press. Singer Pink says she had COVID-19,
"I've been working this hard
and just wanted to go see gives $1M to relief funds
my family and spend time
with them and kiss them
and hug them, and I can't LOS ANGELES (AP) — The singer Pink had
right now." tested positive for COVID-19, she said Fri-
Allert is part of an army of day, also announcing that she is donat-
workers who have sud- ing $500,000 each to two emergency
denly been thrust onto the funds.
front lines of the outbreak In a pair of tweets, she said she and
in New York, where the her three-year-old son were displaying
staggering death toll from symptoms two weeks ago, and she test-
coronavirus has surpassed ed positive after accessing tests through
4,000. a primary care physician. Her family had
A month ago, Allert's EMT already been sheltering at home and
job served as his side hustle. continued to do so, she said. They were
Then COVID-19 crashed tested again "just a few days ago," and
into the city. Everything were negative.
shut down, including the The Grammy Award-winning artist be- In this Jan. 28, 2018, file photo, Pink performs
computer work he was try- hind eight studio albums and hits like "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken" at the 60th
ing to turn into a full-time "Get the Party Started," "What About annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square
gig. Us," "Raise Your Glass" and "Just Give Me Garden in New York. Associated Press.
The private ambulance a Reason" called for for free and wide-
company where Allert spread testing. delphia and the COVID-19 response
moonlights began offer- "It is an absolute travesty and failure of fund run by the Mayor's Fund for Los An-
ing more opportunities. A our government to not make testing geles.
lot more. During a recent more widely accessible," she wrote. "This The Temple University donation honors
weekend, he put in a 12- illness is serious and real. People need to the singer born Alecia Moore's mother,
hour shift on Friday fol- know that the illness affects the young Judy Moore, who worked at the hospi-
lowed by a 21-hour stint and old, healthy and unhealthy, rich and tal's cardiomyopathy and heart trans-
the following day. The poor, and we must make testing free plant center for nearly two decades, she
phone can ring at all hours. and more widely accessible to protect said.
He was on his Xbox at 2 our children, our families, our friends and She called health care workers "heroes"
a.m. recently trying to de- our communities." and ended her post with an appeal to
compress when they asked She announced she's donating $1 mil- the public.
him to come in. So he did. lion across two coronavirus-related relief "These next two weeks are crucial:
Another wearying 18-hour funds, with $500,000 each going to the please stay home," she wrote. "Please.
stint followed. Temple University Hospital Fund in Phila- Stay. Home." q