“Honestly, I am tired. I haven’t been on vacation since August 2019 ”, recognizes Julien Cavanagh. This neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital is one of the French caregivers on the front line facing Covid-19. For him and for his colleagues, 2020 has been a physically and mentally trying year. Propelled into a Covid unit in April in New York, then the epicenter of the virus on American soil, he has not seen his father for a year. And, in March, he had to put his mother on a plane to France just after that green card holder managed to land a job at Century 21 in New York, the chain of stores that went bankrupt.
But, as the New Year dawns, he has some reason to be optimistic. At the end of December, he was vaccinated against the virus and is now waiting for the second “round” of immunization, condition sine qua non to take the plane and see his relatives again. Like many other caregivers in the United States, he filmed himself when he received this first injection. His hope: to serve as an example. “Acceptance of the vaccine is increasing in public opinion. It’s encouraging. It’s one thing to read a study in a scientific journal, but when you see other people getting vaccinated, it has more impact ”, he said.
For Julien Cavanagh, this vaccination (without major side effects for him) ended a year of ups and downs. Since the onset of the health crisis, the stress generated by the incessant flow of intubated patients, the lack of funds, the sadness at having lost one of his mentors (Doctor James Mahoney) co-exist in his memory with the relief of not having contracted the virus and the feeling of having done the maximum to save lives. Chief of Resident Doctors at SUNY Downstate, Brooklyn, at the start of the pandemic, he spent the summer at the Massachusetts Hospital. “I always liked being on the front line, he confides. This crisis has changed me in so many different ways. I feel like I’m at the heart of a historic moment. I would have suffered if I hadn’t been able to do anything. I have the consolation of helping other people. I also think of people who are in difficult situations, such as shopkeepers, restaurant owners …“
In Houston, the dynamic nurse Églantine Clocher, who co-founded a project to make and distribute masks at the start of the crisis, got used to “very restrictive health protocols both at the hospital and when returning home”Which punctuates his daily life since March. She, too, made it through 2020 without contracting the virus. “I owe it only to the strict observance of protocols and sanitary procedures. The arrival of the vaccine will not change my behavior, although I understand that it arouses a lot of hope around me ”, she says.
The Frenchwoman, who has not been vaccinated, is cautious. “The advancement of knowledge about Covid-19 is good news in itself as it is every time medical science advances. I think we must nevertheless remain humble despite the marketing of the first vaccines. The hope aroused must be weighed against the little hindsight we have, especially since access to the vaccine remains limited today at the global level.“, She relativizes
“What is stressful is the feeling of not being safe. You must never let go of your guard“, Continues Frédéric Bernerd, advanced practice nurse in Miami and president of the support association for French people in difficulty Entraide Floridienne. He hasn’t been vaccinated yet either, but will.sooner or later“. “I haven’t made a decision on when, he confides. It is a new type of vaccine. We do not have long-term hindsight. You have to weigh the risks against the benefits. When you are a caregiver, you must also be careful not to be vaccinated all at the same time to avoid having possible side effects at the same time. But the choice is hard because you also have to be able to protect yourself when you are very exposed ”, he said.
Despite apprehensions, and the arrival of a more contagious variant in the United States, the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna “offer a glimmer of hope, he continues. The year 2020 has passed very quickly. We were in great demand. It leaves less time to think about family in France“. Others too occupy his mind as the page of 2020 turns. “The nursing staff are very important, but all the service staff, responsible for managing the ventilators and other equipment, cleaning the rooms, are just as important.“.
