Snack Fund: PTs helping COVID patients walk again
Donation protected
My name is Katie and I am a Doctor of Physical Therapy in a New York City public hospital. I work on a team of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation specialists who provide care for acutely ill patients in the inpatient setting. Personally, I specialize in ICU level care for pre- and post-operative cardiothoracic patients.
As of today, we are all COVID-19 specialists as well.
Patients with COVID-19 who require hospitalization – even the folks who don’t end up requiring intubation – are severely deconditioned, many of whom are unable to sit up on their own, let alone walk. These individuals require extensive physical therapy.
And so, every day, my team and I don our PPE. N95 respirator. Droplet shield. Hair cover. Gown. Gloves. And we walk into our patients’ rooms, where the very nature of our profession requires us to disregard any sense of social distancing, where we break a sweat in intimate proximity to this virus while using our bodies to facilitate movement and mobility in some of the most ill patients with whom any of us have ever worked. And then we do it again, and again. With smiles. Because this is our calling, and after all, someone has to help these folks get back on their feet.
Every weekend, going way back to the good ol’ pre-COVID days, I like to pick up an extra something from the grocery store to bring in and share with my colleagues. Cookies, peanut butter stuffed pretzels, clementine oranges. Doesn’t matter what, because, damn, physical therapists LOVE to eat. And this simple gesture has always brought a little bit of joy to my colleagues, because sometimes you just need a cookie.
So, if you have a couple bucks to spare, I’m asking if you might donate to the simple cause of a nibble fund for a couple dozen exhausted-but-still-going-strong NYC acute care physical therapists, because, well, we could really use that cookie right about now.
With gratitude,
Katie
As of today, we are all COVID-19 specialists as well.
Patients with COVID-19 who require hospitalization – even the folks who don’t end up requiring intubation – are severely deconditioned, many of whom are unable to sit up on their own, let alone walk. These individuals require extensive physical therapy.
And so, every day, my team and I don our PPE. N95 respirator. Droplet shield. Hair cover. Gown. Gloves. And we walk into our patients’ rooms, where the very nature of our profession requires us to disregard any sense of social distancing, where we break a sweat in intimate proximity to this virus while using our bodies to facilitate movement and mobility in some of the most ill patients with whom any of us have ever worked. And then we do it again, and again. With smiles. Because this is our calling, and after all, someone has to help these folks get back on their feet.
Every weekend, going way back to the good ol’ pre-COVID days, I like to pick up an extra something from the grocery store to bring in and share with my colleagues. Cookies, peanut butter stuffed pretzels, clementine oranges. Doesn’t matter what, because, damn, physical therapists LOVE to eat. And this simple gesture has always brought a little bit of joy to my colleagues, because sometimes you just need a cookie.
So, if you have a couple bucks to spare, I’m asking if you might donate to the simple cause of a nibble fund for a couple dozen exhausted-but-still-going-strong NYC acute care physical therapists, because, well, we could really use that cookie right about now.
With gratitude,
Katie
Organizer
Katherine W.
Organizer
New York, NY