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