(NewsNation Now) — The number of positive COVID-19 cases is growing all across the U.S. For frontline health workers like Dr. Kenneth E. Remy, this pandemic is up close and personal, working endless hours to save lives.
Dr. Remy has been researching COVID-19 since March, while working at Missouri Baptist Medical Center’s intensive care unit, treating COVID-19 patients. In the past five days, he says 11 patients have died from the coronavirus.
Working an overnight shift on Saturday, Dr. Remy reached his breaking point when another patient with COVID-19 died on his watch.
“I had to call the patient’s spouse and let her know he died in the middle of the night,” said Remy. “It’s the worst feeling in your life to call someone to tell them their loved one had passed.”
The doctor says that moment inspired him to make a video simulating a COVID-19 patient’s last moments, in hopes of sending a strong message.
“I don’t want to be the last person that looks in your frightened eyes,” says Dr. Remy in the video he tweeted.
In the video, Remy stares down the camera in full personal protective equipment (PPE), leaning in and out of the video describing what COVID-19 patients experience. He holds up a ventilator tube and flashlight over the camera saying,”This is what it looks like when you breathe 40 times a minute, have an oxygen level dipping well below 80… I hope that the last moments of your life don’t look like this.”
Remy ends the video with a call to action:
“I promise you, this is what your mother, your father or your children will see when they get COVID disease at the end of their life… This is serious. I beg you, please practice the precautions to reduce transmission of COVID disease so that we can effectively prevent disease for you and your loved ones.”
Remy says the video isn’t a scare tactic but instead a wake up call to use masks, practice social distancing and avoid gathering in groups.
“I have no interest in scaring people, I just want people to know that preventive measures will help with the disease transmission,” said Remy. “I have confidence that the vaccines that are coming will work but in the meantime we have to all come together and really take personal responsibility.”
In the beginning of the pandemic, Remy says he worked two and half months straight, with no days off. He says while working around the clock healthcare workers are still dedicated to providing the best care.
“We are fatigued but we are not fatigued from caring, we are not fatigued from delivering the best healthcare,” said Remy. “If you are sick don’t delay going to the hospital, delaying your care could cost you your life.”
According to Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tracker, there are 1,418,640 global deaths, and 261,971 in the United States.
