Apr 1, 2020
Heroes on the front line: Brittany Hill
A new Coverage series features the voices of doctors and nurses battling the coronavirus in Massachusetts
For five minutes starting at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 3, people across Massachusetts will join in #ClapBecauseWeCare. Like those before us in London and Italy and New York City, we will cheer for our neighbors who leave home every day to do essential work, while most of the public stays home in a desperate attempt to slow the spread of the pandemic. We will cheer for those who are keeping our lights and heat on. We will cheer for those who keep our grocery stores open, and our streets safe. And we will cheer loudly, with awe and gratitude, for those fighting coronavirus in hospitals.
At Coverage, we are giving the doctors, nurses, PAs and NPs who are on the front line a chance to speak to you, our readers, in their own words. We asked that they share their simplest, most urgent messages as they fight this new virus with no vaccine and no cure, a virus vulnerable only to our common human bravery, ingenuity and compassion.
"Earlier this week a patient told me, 'I am not scared. When I was diagnosed with metastatic cancer years ago, I decided to embrace what I could control and take care of myself and my disease, then live – truly live – my life. Every day I wake up and focus on living, not dying. I am approaching this pandemic the same way.' When I am teetering on defeat, moments like this inspire me to keep going. The world currently is riddled with fear and uncertainty, perhaps even anger and anguish. At a time like this, I challenge every one (myself included) to be like my patient - to be brave and grateful under even the most vulnerable and adverse circumstances."
- Brittany Hill, 26, NP-BC, MSN, Dana Farber breast oncology
More in the "Heroes on the front line" series:
Trish Powers
Operating room RN
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Dr. Michael Kiernan
Cardiologist
Tufts Medical Center
Dr. William Baker
Emergency medicine physician
Boston Medical Center
Maureen Plunkett
ED clinical nurse educator
Boston Medical Center
Dr. Robert Green
Geneticist
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Iris Montijo
Pediatric NP,
Codman Square Health Center