42 | APRIL 30 • 2020
says. “I’
ve adapted to look at it differently now. I wear a mask
at all times, and I do everything possible to protect myself.
“I don’
t feel I have an option not to go to work,” she adds. “I
am a trained health professional doing my job when it’
s need-
ed most.”
Goel is part of a two-person intubation team. She also
assists in the COVID ICU where some of the most critically ill
patients are fighting for their lives. Many make calls to loved
ones — before being sedated and placed on a ventilator — just
before she enters the room. With no visitors allowed at the
hospital, each patient is there alone.
“We are pretty scary-looking with all of our masks, gowns
and shields, so it’
s even more important to stay positive with
them,” she says. “We reassure them we will do everything we
can to help them and keep them comfortable.”
After each grueling, emotional shift, Goel goes through the
painstaking process of safely removing her gear so she doesn’
t
get infected. Her mask stays at work and is cleaned at the
hospital. At home, she goes back to being a mom, helping her
children, three of whom attend Hillel Day School, with online
school and daily classes.
“My kids have been great through this,” she says. “They
know just enough about the virus that they don’
t complain
about being home. They send us reminders to keep protected,
but don’
t seem stressed.”
‘
AN HONOR TO SERVE’
Dr. David Willens, head of academic internal medicine at
Henry Ford Hospital, leaves his wife, Lauren, newborn daugh-
ter, Stella, and stepson, Carter Rennert, 7, at home, when he
heads to work each day. He believes they all had COVID-19
We’re at
War
Local health care workers describe life
on the front lines of COVID-19.
ROBIN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Health
S
he risks her life, night after night, while her four children
sleep.
Barbara Goel, a nurse anesthetist who works extend-
ed shifts (7 p.m. to 7 a.m. or 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.) at Beaumont
Hospital in Farmington Hills, is covered from head to toe in
protective gear and surrounded by COVID-19 all night long.
When she leaves for work, Mayah, 15, Noam, 12, Ethan,
10, and Levi, 3, often remind her to wear her N95 mask. She
assures them she will. Her husband, Shai, also a nurse anes-
thetist, works an opposite shift at Henry Ford Wyandotte
Hospital. They alternate schedules, taking turns caring for sick
patients or staying home with the children.
As of April 26, there have been 37,778 reported cases of the
coronavirus in Michigan and 3,315 deaths.
“Initially I was losing sleep worrying about getting sick,” she
Dr. David Willens
Barbara Goel