Mount Pleasant Magazine Documenting Covid-19

82 www.CoronavirusMag.com | www.ReadMPM.com | www.ILoveMountPleasant.com feature H ow does a global pandemic such as COVID-19 get dealt with in smaller communities? The greatest impact in managing the crisis comes from our hometown heroes. The health care workers of the Lowcountry in South Carolina answered as they always do: swiftly, with compassion and determination, all while placing themselves, and oftentimes their own families, at risk. From the early months of 2020, physicians and doctors were at the front lines learning about the virus, answering and soothing their patients, and working with the positive and negative diagnoses. It was necessary to get their patients to a proper testing facility; some patients would be admitted to a local hospital, less severe cases were sent home, and others, who found themselves with typical health-related problems, sometimes had to tough it out by virtual visits. From there, emergency room doctors and practicing physicians in the hospitals, from pulmonary to kidney, had to respond to the demands of COVID-19. Nurses worked tirelessly alongside their physician partners and were the primary caregivers to most of the coronavirus patients. From operating the much-needed ventilators to passing messages between loved ones and patients, nurses were and always will be the saving grace. Throughout nursing homes, senior centers, hospitals and primary offices, nurses remained rock solid in their BY STACY E. DOMINGO Hometown Heroes in the Health Care World