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 Three Northwell Health frontline health professionals shared their
experience of working at the height of the pandemic at a news
conference on Wednesday.
"It was so tough for us," said Carlos Rivera, 47, an environmental
services worker at Cohen Children's Medical Center. "The hardest
thing that anybody would have to endure."
Rivera's grandmother and father died from COVID-19 last April.
Rivera and his wife also caught the disease.
"I wasn't able to go to any of the funeral services because that's
just the way it was," Rivera said.
Rivera said he still gets emotional about the ongoing threat of
infection.
"Because we're still dealing with this pandemic, I feel like a lot
of times I go home scared. I don't want my children to get this. In
particular, my older daughter has a lot of underlying issues, and so
it's always on my mind," he said.
Elyse Isopo, a critical care nurse at North Shore University
Hospital, said her parents caught COVID-19 early in the pandemic.
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 "I thought I was strong. I
really did. Until, there were days that I would
just spiral and I would just break down," she
said.
A number of healthcare providers have committed
suicide this year, highlighting the need for the
center, said Dr. Frederick Davis, the associate
chair for the emergency department at Long
Island Jewish Medical Center.
Nearly 29% of U.S. essential workers like those
in the healthcare and law enforcement sectors
have said their mental health has worsened and
75% said they could have used more emotional
support since the pandemic started, according to
the American Psychological Association.
(Reporting by Roselle Chen and Hussein Al Waaile;
Editing by Karishma Singh and Stephen Coates)
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