Q: Can you describe your current employment?
A: I am a current private practice physician in a large nephrology practice in the San Fernando Valley.
Q: How was your workplace and medical specialty affected by COVID-19?
A: My workplace was definitely affected. The hospitals got busier for us because a lot of COVID patients that came in—many of them had a lot of comorbidities that also happen to affect the kidneys. So the hospitals got really hectic and really busy. Our outpatient practices and our office did get affected because patients were scared to come to the office, they were scared to leave their house, so we really saw a drop in our office volume.
Q: Was there a particular patient or day or week that stays with you?
A: Yes, so early on in the pandemic, probably around November, there was a Korean gentleman who was in his late forties. I was called to see him, and I didn't know his story until later on. I found out he had a son that came back from Berkeley, and I guess his son had COVID and didn't know. And in the Korean household, the grandmother stayed with them. So the grandson inadvertently gave the grandmother COVID, and obviously the grandmother got really sick. The grandmother ended up having a cardiac arrest at home. The father—the grandmother's son—started doing CPR on her and called paramedics. They brought her to Northridge Hospital and she was really sick. About five days later, he himself became really short of breath and had to go to the hospital himself. And he had COVID, and before we knew it both of them were on ventilators and the son ended up staying in the ICU for about 40, almost 50 days. But he ultimately died of COVID too.
Q: How were you or your family personally impacted by COVID-19?
A: So, I'm originally from Taiwan, and I happen to be from a country where they actually handled the COVID pandemic really well. I usually go back to Taiwan once a year during the Chinese New Year. This year, I obviously couldn't go back. A lot of family members are there—they didn’t want me to come back. And, you know, they were really worried about me, because they knew that we were basically the hotspot for COVID for a period of time, and we were dealing with it a lot. But thankfully, I haven't had any family members that got really sick from it, because they've been very, very careful.
Q: How did you handle everything you had to deal with? Was there any routine or regime that you created to de-stress or detach yourself from what you were seeing?
A: Yeah. In the beginning, it was hard, it was very difficult, because you felt like you didn't have all the resources you needed to fight the virus. On top of that, we were given conflicting information on how to treat it, and we were trying to learn about it as we went. So I felt very helpless. And then later on, my mindset changed. I learned to just try to focus on the ones that you possibly could save. So I kind of detached myself—I got numb to patients dying. It just became another patient that passed, because you do the best that you can, but you are fighting a disease that you are still learning about and trying to figure out how to treat. I think I had to kind of just detach myself from it. But there were days where I would come home and I would feel terrible because you see people that died that shouldn't have died. I just—I had to keep a fresh mind. And my wife is also in the healthcare field, so I think talking about it to someone, and talking to someone who also sees it and understands it—I think that helped.
Q: How have things progressed in the last few months? Are you receiving fewer patients with COVID-19?
A: Yes. We went from a hospital census of over a hundred COVID patients to now, I think we have four. So the census has really dropped. I don't feel like I'm going into a war zone anymore every day going into work.
Q: What are your hopes for a post-pandemic world?
A: I'm hoping that people become more considerate of each other. And I think we need to take politics out of science, and just let science be science. There are instances where people who wear masks are considered to be favoring one political view versus others that aren't. I think that's a mistake. I think that the reason why certain countries like Taiwan were really able to control the pandemic was because they cooperated, and contact tracing really worked. Here, I think a lot of people are into their own—just their freedom or liberty. They feel like they're violating their rights if we're trying to figure out ‘Where did you travel?’ or ‘How did you get the virus?’ or ‘Who else did you get exposed to?’ I think being more considerate of other people—I think that's really important.
Q: Is there anything you want future generations or future doctors to know about handling another pandemic?
A: Yes. Trust your instincts. Use common sense. Initially, when the CDC came out and said you don't need to wear masks? Clearly they were wrong. There's a reason why, when people wear masks, you see less incidences of respiratory viruses. It’s because you have a barrier, and someone else has a barrier. So initially, when they first came out and said “You don't need to wear a mask,” the reason why they did that was because they were worried that they would run out of masks. Not so much of what was best for your health. So trust your instincts. Use your common sense.
Q: Are you planning to continue with your field?
A: Yes, I do feel that—I'm sorry, is the question continuing in my field, or continuing being a doctor? [Both.] Okay, well, the answer to both is yes. I do feel like nephrology and lung doctors were at the forefront of COVID-19, because a lot of the really sick COVID patients, the kidneys were affected. And we had to put a lot of those patients on dialysis. I do think that we did somewhat make a difference, but it's been challenging.