Reporting in depth from New York area hospitals, an AP all-formats team gives readers and viewers an up-close-and-personal look at the pandemic’s effects on frontline medical workers’ mental health.
As the coronavirus pandemic enters a new phase in a reopening nation, its psychological toll is sinking in for the people who have cared for the sickest patients. Some other media outlets have reported on the issue, but the AP went further by going into New York City hospitals to see the impact in person, in real time and on the record.
Writer Jennifer Peltz and video journalist Robert Bumsted sat in on a “debriefing” session where emergency-room staffers at hard-hit Elmhurst Hospital told each other how they were feeling now that the crisis has eased, but the fear of a resurgence has not.
“I am still scared ... I feel like it’s a calm before a second storm,” one doctor said.
“In my wildest dreams, I never imagined how hard it would be,’’ another doctor said.
Letters of thanks from students line the walls of a break room that was set up for workers to decompress from the stress of caring for COVID-19 patients, at Elmhurst Hospital in the Queens borough of New York, May 29, 2020.
AP Photo / Robert Bumsted
Medical workers shared the heartbreak of keeping their distance from relatives for months, the terror of treating patients when protective equipment was scarce early on, and the grim task of co-workers exchanging information on drawing up wills. Between interviews, Bumsted and Peltz spent time in a special new break room that offers not just snacks and coffee but also a social worker, and in a memorial room that pays tribute to Elmhurst staffers who have died.
Dr. Samrina Kahlon walks through the emergency department at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan in Manhattan, May 27, 2020.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
Medical personnel work in the emergency department at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan in Manhattan, May 27, 2020.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
Medical personnel adjust their personal protective equipment while working in the emergency department at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan in Manhattan, May 27, 2020.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
COVID-19 safety reminders hang on a wall in the emergency department intake area at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan in Manhattan, May 27, 2020.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
Medical personnel work in the COVID-19 medical screening annex at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan in Manhattan, May 27, 2020.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
A heath care worker in personal protective equipment takes a break in the employee respite facilities at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan in Manhattan, May 27, 2020.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
Letters of thanks from students line the walls of a break room that was set up for workers to decompress from the stress of caring for COVID-19 patients at Elmhurst Hospital in the Queens borough of New York, May 29, 2020.
AP Photo / Robert Bumsted
Medical personnel wearing personal protective equipment clean surfaces in the emergency department at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan in Manhattan, May 27, 2020.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
A meditation room for medical personnel remains empty in the respite facilities at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan in Manhattan, May 27, 2020.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
Hospital administrators attend a meeting at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan in Manhattan, May 27, 2020.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
A medical worker takes a break in the employee respite facility at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan in Manhattan, May 27, 2020.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
Medical personnel leave messages for their colleagues in the respite facilities at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan in Manhattan, May 27, 2020.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
At Metropolitan Hospital, which also had a heavy coronavirus caseload, video journalist Ted Shaffrey and photographer John Minchillo gathered additional interviews and compelling images of a day’s work in this post-surge, pre-vaccine period. Minchillo and Shaffrey documented medical personnel working in a COVID-19 screening area, hospital workers cleaning the emergency department, and an exhausted staffer taking a break, among other moments. Peltz, meanwhile, conducted phone and Zoom interviews with outside experts to add context in the various formats.
For a fully rendered package that takes a close personal look at this important aspect of the pandemic, the team of Peltz, Bumsted, Shaffrey and Minchillo earns this week’s Best of the States award.
For AP’s complete coverage of the coronavirus:
– AP’s hub for comprehensive all-formats coverage of the virus outbreak.
– Understanding the Outbreak: stories explaining the new coronavirus.
– One Good Thing: stories of hope and humanity amid the crisis.
– Ground Game: Inside the Outbreak: AP’s podcast series.
- Lives Lost: stories behind the victims of COVID-19.
