COVID ward physician urges Calgarians to continue taking the pandemic seriously

Respiratory physician Dr. Sachin Pendharkar has been treating COVID-19 patients since the beginning of the pandemic. Recently Pendharkar was assigned to a patient who was also a fellow healthcare worker.

“That was kind of the moment when it sort of hit me, what was happening. You step back and you realize all that had gone on. If you think about our colleagues, they’re our work family. We work with them, we provide care, day and night.

“In the same way people in our community have experienced illness or loss of family members or loved ones getting sick, this kind of hit home for me.”

Although Pendharkar describes the current situation as a heavy load for healthcare workers, he also stresses they remain determined to provide quality care.

Vaccines are the light at the end of the tunnel, he says, but in the meantime it’s important for Calgarians to continue to take the pandemic seriously.

“This is real. To the best that anyone will believe me as a health-care provider, this is a real thing. The numbers are important, but I don’t think the numbers tell the whole story of the acute illness, the prolonged recovery, the experience of the people who have it. It needs to be talked about as something that affects people of all ages.”

Source: Calgary Herald