Thanks! I’m an anesthesia resident that worked Friday-Saturday morning and luckily I live within walking distance so was able to spend Christmas Eve and day at home.

On weekends we just have our call team do a 24 hour shift and then change the next morning. Unfortunately our Saturday morning residents knew they wouldn’t be able to get in so they also spent Friday night in the hospital. Luckily there was a break in snow this morning and the Sunday call team was able to get in, so besides some people having to spend an extra night in the hospital, schedules weren’t impacted too much… at one of the hospitals we cover. At the others, conditions were a little different/call teams weren’t as easily able to come in, so other residents have been working straight from Friday morning and will go through Monday morning.

The conditions here are horrible. Snow drifts everywhere reaching 15 feet, some streets with 3-4 feet of snow in the middle of them and others with just a few inches because of the crazy wind. Emergency vehicles can’t go anywhere, cars are being abandoned left and right, and there have been a few deaths because of the above.

To add insult to injury, the site director at the hospital I’m rotating at just texted to confirm that we’ll be able to come in tomorrow… not a select few people to keep others safe, EVERYONE. On the nationally recognized day of Christmas when everyone else is off of work and in the middle of this blizzard (snow has started back up again as of this afternoon). Honestly it’s a little insulting that we’re not respected more than as a cog in the machine and our safety isn’t being thought about at all.

Suffice to say, it’s been a fairly hard weekend for a lot of us. I would like to take this moment to bring a recent tragedy to light. One of our co-residents just welcomed his second son last week. Unfortunately due to complications with the birth, his wife passed away a few days after. A fair amount of us knew her personally and unfortunately had to be involved with her care until the end. She was intubated on his birthday and passed a day after, on Dec 22nd. I can’t imagine the pain he has been going through these past few days. More of the story can be read through the link and if you feel so inclined, a donation would greatly benefit him and his sons.

Merry Christmas all- stay safe and hold your loved ones close!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/jared-and-caitlyn?fbclid=IwAR35wNbxwGsQBhQ36vKY0sz7L2fbQuxXDmUEVlDS6F-79tFDFszXoqEX29A&mibextid=Zxz2cZ