Thursday, March 19, 2020

sick student

In my video conference with my students, one of them wasn't feeling well.  She was pale and coughing.

Later on in the call, while she was in a small group, she told me she was concerned she had Coronavirus, but she didn't have a doctor and didn't know what to do.  I'm not sure if she has health insurance, but one of the other students discouraged her from going to the doctor because it was going to cost so much money.

I asked to speak with her separately in a breakout room on Zoom.  She told me she was afraid because she lives with her grandmother and her aunt.  I told her not to go anywhere and to wash her hands.  I asked for her phone number, then immediately posted something on Facebook asking for help about where to refer her.  I sent off an email to my boss.  I called a friend who is an administrator and she recommended I contact the Office of Emergency Management at the college, so I sent them an email. 

Meanwhile, someone on Facebook suggested a Virginia hotline number, which I texted my student and told her to call.  She texted back that it was just a robot. 

An old friend who is a doctor, someone who I have not heard from in decades apparently still had my phone number and texted me directly to tell me to refer her to the county health department.  Just after I sent her that number, I received an email from the OEM linking me to this page at the college to have her self-report.

I hope they contact her.  She was clearly scared and grateful that I was helping her.  She felt crappy and didn't know how to help.  Of course she wasn't going to run in circles to find resources.  She was just going to stay in her house and be sick--in the best case scenario.  And I'm still not sure that the resource I found is going to be of real assistance to her.  I'll follow up with her today

I've expended so much energy trying to get away from sick people over the past couple of days that I haven't considered what to do if I encounter a sick person--besides stay away.  It was a real wake up call to be put in that situation.  Infuriating to find a person who could really make a difference by staying put and not have reliable resources to share. 


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