He could communicate only with his eyes and he used them, fiercely, to tell nurse Nikky Oldham to back off. She got the message. Even behind gloves, gown, mask, and face shield, she could tell he was afraid.

“He couldn’t move, breathe, talk,” said Oldham, “He was trapped inside his body and couldn’t communicate with his hands, but any time you came toward his face meant pain. It was hard to reassure him; I don’t think he trusted anybody.”

Springtime distance-learning was a hot mess in our house… As the unofficial family point-person for all things education, I made the executive decision that we needed to re-think our fall strategy. First step: create a new home environment for distance-learning, in the hopes of bringing some of that back-to-school magic into our family room, in lieu of the classroom.

“As COVID-19 swept across the country, killing patients and medical staff alike, it posed a painful question for senior nurses no longer serving in emergency rooms or intensive care units: Did they want to go back? How much should they risk their own health, or the health of their loved ones, to save perfect strangers?…”