Jefferson COVID Stories
Can you come up with a haiku to describe your experience over the past week?
Featured Response
College of Pharmacy Administrator on Missing her Granddaughter
There is a deep void.
Just want to hug her. Aching
For my granddaughter.
– Andi Joseph, Assistant Director Experiential Education, Jefferson College of Pharmacy
flattening the curve
while we fatten up our curves
coronavirus
– Nursing extern
Too much family
Not enough family
Life and death
– Writer, Office of Institutional Advancement
Apart from the fam
but also with a new one.
Spring blooms; upward dog
– Medical student
In our patients' shoes
illness, uncertainty, fear
forward together
– Occupational therapy student,
Cut, cut, cut the masks.
Sew, sew, sew…so many masks!
Give out masks, see smiles.
– Fashion Design professor
Our isolation
Ends not in death but gives life
We remain in hope
– Physician, Department of Family and Community Medicine
Featured Response
Rashmi, a third year medical student, shares poetry on Coronavirus
Coronavirus
My hands itch to pick up my stethoscope
and run back to the wards.
“I’m here!” I want to cry, “I want to help!”
Just like the early mornings, before dawn
yawns across the horizon, stretching her
arms across the hospital hallways,
I want to read the ward lists again,
Preround patients patiently while
frantically scribbling presentation notes.
But, today, as the sun sleepily slowly
stirs from her slumber, I sit inside.
Isolated, I fidget and pace impatiently.
So close to qualifying, yet so far from helping.
This heart, furiously frustrated, continues
to churn and swirl, spurning new storms
within my mind. Desperate thoughts push
against my arms, bobbing within those
waves and winds. Ugh! Ugh! Ughhh!
I promise I’m a medical student
who wants to do more. Enthusiasm
kindles me, but these fingers can only
Turn textbook pages for now.
To Those Continuing to Venture
To those continuing to venture
within this invisible storm,
From running the hospital wards
to conscientiously cleaning floors,
And then those stocking shelves,
Harvesting and planting, hosting
classes online, and much more.
As this tempest continues concealed,
These superheroes still don their masks
And endure, no matter how hard
this squall silently, stealthily, appears.
We salute you all, brave captains
From your strength, our hope is kindled,
Your smiles imbue our perseverance
And remind us that after every winter
is the chance to inhale springs new promises.
Thank you
Telehealth doctor
Who me, you say? OK, laugh
Canto, FaceTime, Duo, Go!
– Physician, Department of Family and Community Medicine
Panic in the streets
Waiting for COVID to strike
PPE in hand
– Physician, Rehabilitation Medicine
This is difficult
Can see life’s goodness
Sunshine is a gift
– Administrator, Jefferson Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education
Four years, yet never like this
Adapt, laugh, relax
We’ll always be crazy kids
– Architecture student
Complete disbelief.
This is really happening.
Breathe–we can do this!
– Administrator,
Jefferson College of Pharmacy
Work from home all day
New brain circuitry forming
Yay, a new pathway!
– Behavioral Health Consultant, Family and Community Medicine
Finding a quiet space
now a shared family dance
Tiptoes, muted steps!
– Writer, Office for Professional Writing, Publishing, and Communication
Goodbye ward learning,
Hello isolation life
I wish to do more.
– Medical student
School work vs. work work
Doctoring is easier
Fractions go away
– Physician, Department of Family and Community Medicine
Yes, the storm will pass
We’ll live to tell the stories
Together, alive!
– Architecture student
My ipad is dead!
Where are my comfy sweatpants....
Is that due today?
– Nursing student
Anxious and fearful
Hearts give way to trusting Him
The Lord conquers all
– Physician, Department of Family and Community Medicine
Cough, Cough, am I ok?
Do I have a place to stay?
Sleep away the pain…
– Student
unbelievable
unimaginable
indescribable
– Nurse
Computer classes.
Going to work in the ER.
Off, feeling guilty.
– Nursing student
I like being home
The work is more meaningful
Sharing the burden
– Employee, Communications Department
What comes next today?
To stay healthy, avoid me
What comes tomorrow?
– Physical Therapy student
This has been stressful.
I struggle with online classes.
Thankful for all my professors.
– Nursing Student
Hallways now silent
Waiting for the other shoe
Force a smile some days
– Emergency Department technician
I was scared at first
My desk sits where my bed once was
by the window, for light
– Medical student
Gown, gloves, mask, shield
Is it enough protection
We can only hope
– Nurse, Medical Intensive Care Unit
Red lines from the mask
Front lines of the pandemic
We are the strong line
– Nurse, Emergency Department
COVID's like Cancer
Silent but deadly
Jefferson has the answers
– Nurse Practitioner, Surgical Oncology
Taking care of patients,
J-F-M-A all hands on deck,
marathon not a sprint!
– Administrator, Department of Family and Community Medicine
We can’t see patients
But we support those who do
By staying at home
– Medical student
Now invisible,
Evil dons a thorny crown.
We cannot mask fear.
– Physician, Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery
Midday I awake,
To the computer I fly,
As zoom awaits me.
– Student, College of Population Health
Must live in the now
Find beauty in disaster
Live with gratitude
– Occupational therapy student
Essential worker
What can I do to help out
Changes made daily.
– PhD Student
Drifting mind in flux
Missing people, missing Jeff
Love and peace to you
– Medical student
All hands are on deck.
Support from co-workers through
grief, fear, gratitude.
–Employee, Sleep Medicine
Hey, put me in coach!
We’ve trained for this. Let us work.
Bureaucracy sucks.
– Nursing student
A little stressed out
Want everyone to be safe
Miss the normalcy
– Physician Assistant student
The sun warms my back
Fragrance of flowers aloft
COVID dampens spring
– Security Guard