Why doctors and other health care workers are staying vigilant in COVID fight | Opinion

Jim Rechtin
·3 min read
10

More than one million lives have been lost to COVID-19 in the United States— including  a tragic milestone of more than 27,000 Tennesseans. Behind each number is a name, a face, a person whose time was cut short, leaving a gaping hole in someone else’s life that cannot be filled.

As we remember the family, friends, colleagues and community members we’ve lost, we have a responsibility to carry their legacies and continue working to save more lives by getting everyone vaccinated.

We must support one another and, above all else, act with empathy and patience.

When the pandemic upended our lives, clinicians ran into the fire to care for patients. They have risked their own health and well-being and made many sacrifices while answering a call to serve us with no end in sight.

More: One and 100: One pandemic uprooted our lives. One hundred stories tell its impact on the South.

The frontline battle with COVID-19

Many have sadly watched patients die and carry the burden of losing a patient in their charge. All of them have done heroic work to care for sick patients, save lives and prevent even greater losses.

Physician assistant Abbey McMurrary prepares to receive the next person's information for a COVID-19 test at a testing and vaccination site on 28th Avenue North and Charlotte Avenue in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022.
Physician assistant Abbey McMurrary prepares to receive the next person's information for a COVID-19 test at a testing and vaccination site on 28th Avenue North and Charlotte Avenue in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022.

We have our lives to live as we please in large part because of those clinicians who have worked relentlessly to protect us.

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The 25,000 physicians and advanced practice providers at Nashville-based Envision Healthcare are a part of that courageous team. They have cared for nearly 7 million COVID-19 patients — including community members in Tennessee.

To these healthcare heroes, we are forever indebted.

While many people have adapted to life with COVID-19 — wanting to move on — we cannot forget that healthcare professionals remain on the frontlines. We must support their efforts by staying vigilant and looking after one another.

More than two years after the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic and one and a half years after COVID-19 vaccines became available, cases and hospitalizations are climbing again.

Tennessee has seen more than two million COVID-19 cases — with infections expected to increase through the summer and fall. Now is not the time to let our guard down.

COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere, and we can’t afford to pretend as if it doesn’t exist.

How getting vaccinated can help save lives

Physician assistant Abbey McMurrary prepares to swap a patient's nose for a Covid test at a COVID-19 testing and Vaccination site on 28th and Charlotte in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022.
Physician assistant Abbey McMurrary prepares to swap a patient's nose for a Covid test at a COVID-19 testing and Vaccination site on 28th and Charlotte in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022.

Despite following rigorous public health protocols, I, along with about 60% of people in the U.S., have had COVID-19. With the virus being so transmissible, the likelihood of being reinfected cannot be ignored.

Fortunately, I was able to overcome the disease without severe symptoms requiring hospitalization. I do not take this for granted. I believe I am alive today because I was vaccinated and boosted.

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The vaccines work. They may not provide full immunity from COVID-19, but they help protect us from severe illness, hospitalization and death.

Jim Rechtin
Jim Rechtin

However, more than 30% of Americans are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and they continue to be at a higher risk. Tennessee ranks near the bottom of states when it comes to the percentage of the population that is fully vaccinated.

The more we follow vaccination and boosting guidelines, the more we can protect ourselves and help clinicians on the frontlines save lives.

A recent analysis shows that about 50% of COVID-19 deaths from January 2021 and April 2022 could have been prevented if people were vaccinated.

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In the past two and a half years, we have made many sacrifices and endured so much suffering. We’ve also seen the best in humanity.

I’m asking Tennesseans and others across America to act with compassion for themselves and those around them, as well as for the brave healthcare workers who care for us all.

Jim Rechtin is the chief executive officer of Envision Healthcare, a national medical group headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, with 25,000 physicians and advanced practice providers on the frontline of the fight against COVID-19. 

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: COVID-19: How you can help our healthcare workers by staying vigilant