Serving in a pandemic EARLY ON IN THE
Dr. Joann Hunsberger (’94)
COVID-19 QUARANTINE,
Pediatric Anesthesiologist, Johns Hopkins Hospital/Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Baltimore, MD
WE ASKED DOCK
A
ALUMNI SERVING ON THE FRONT LINES TO SHARE THEIR PERSPECTIVES ON A SITUATION THEY WILL NOT SOON FORGET. HERE ARE THEIR STORIES OF BEING CHRIST‘S HANDS AND FEET.
s I walked into the hospital again this morning, I was reflecting on how this pandemic has affected my professional life. I am a pediatric anesthesiologist, which means I take care of children who need to be asleep for surgeries or for procedures. I also take care of kids in the rest of the hospital who have pain and need specialized pain medicine plans. Over the last month, my patients in and out of the operating room have been sicker than usual—children with cancer, kidneys that don’t work, babies who can’t eat or drink correctly. But, overall, there have been fewer patients in the hospital as people delay medical care and stay home. As my normal responsibilities have decreased, part of my response to this pandemic has been a voluntary redeployment to the adult hospital, on the team for intubating (placing the breathing tube) in patients with Covid-19. My first time walking onto the Covid ICU was scary, with every patient very sick, and most on ventilators. I was immediately impressed by the valor of my colleagues, the medical heroes dressed in protective equipment fit for a science fiction movie, as they cared for these patients who are critically ill with a virus for which we have no cure. But I am straightened by my faith, which has helped me to overcome my fear and replace it with a desire to care for the sick, the weak and dying in the face of incredible uncertainty. For the past several years, I have been privileged to be on the board of directors of Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship. This fantastic organization brings healthcare workers of Anabaptist faith together to discuss how our faith intersects with our profession. I have appreciated the level of expertise and experience present in the Anabaptist community. We have doctors, nurses, therapists, social workers, chaplains, dentists and health researchers throughout the United States and around the world. Over the past several weeks, I have been able to speak with some of those in the midst of Covid-19 via our Menno HealthCast podcast and our Covid-19 Response Webinar, giving voice to that uniquely Anabaptist perspective. I have come to appreciate the Anabaptist healthcare community even more deeply, as we thoughtfully and carefully respond to an unprecedented pandemic, as frontline providers, thought leaders and administrators. I am deeply appreciative of the prayers and thoughts of my community here in Baltimore and my home community in Pennsylvania. As a result of our inquiries for this story, Dr. Hunsberger was able to interview Anna Hershey for MennoHealthCast (see Episode 8). You can listen to that interview and others at https://themennonite. org/the-latest/mennohealth-cast-podcast/
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DOCK Mennonite Academy
