The Real Heroes

            Peggy Noonan wrote last week about her experience with testing for the coronavirus. She said that we are surrounded by nobility. To illustrate the thought, she pointed to a Mike Luckovich cartoon of Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima. “Only it wasn’t Marines—it was a doctor, a scientist, a nurse and a first responder anchoring Old Glory in this rocky soil.”

            Noonan’s experience mirrored mine. When I developed multiple symptoms—headache, fever, sore throat, head and chest congestion—I went to Carolina Family Practice to ask to be tested. When I told the receptionist why I was there, she quickly stepped away and summoned a physician’s assistant who came right away and questioned me from a distance. “Have you recently been in contact with someone who tested positive or someone who returned from travel abroad?”  When I said yes, it put in motion a process that I’m sure has since been repeated many times.

            The assistant (who shall remain nameless for reasons I will explain later) burst through the door to the inner office and gave me a mask to put on. She stood no more than three feet from me when she did that. She then ushered me inside.

            At this point I’m sure I had the full attention of the dozen or so patients in the reception area who were waiting their turn to be treated.

            Once inside, another assistant, wearing her own mask, wasted no time in taking me to a room to be tested, first with nose swabs for testing on site and later with throat swabs to be sent to a lab for further testing. I also had blood taken from a finger for additional tests. I was then interviewed at length by a doctor who made copious notes on my case, including a list of all the people I had been in contact with since my contact with a person who had recently returned from Europe. He later returned to inform me that the nose test proved negative and the blood sample showed no infections. All to my great relief. But I would still have to be sequestered until results of the lab test came in.

            Testing over, I was asked to keep my mask on and was ushered out the back door to avoid passing through the reception area.

            I have not named the receptionist, the assistants, and the doctor who treated me, and the many who would come in great numbers after me. They, and the many thousands like them across the country, are the real heroes of this epidemic, heroes on the front line who care for the health of others at the risk to their own. And, as we’ve seen in Italy, have a much higher infectious rate than the general public. They are the ones who deserve our praise and admiration. They are not looking for glory, only to care for us in our time of need. What they earn is our gratitude for their dedicated and selfless service. We are so fortunate to have them. Bless you all.