Sekou Andrews

And that means that when you wear your heart on your sleeve or on your scrubs, in a sense, that means that you also carry that burden.

You know, you're talking to an ex-teacher.

So I know what it is to be on the front lines of the thing that the world is saying.

The most important thing is the most important thing in the world.

And you're like, funny, because my paycheck doesn't seem to reflect that, you know.

So I know what that's like, that kind of service is like.

And health care workers, they have known what that's like for a long time.

But this pandemic threw flags.

you know, what is it, threw grease on the fire in a sense.

So the fire has always been there.

But suddenly this pandemic is pouring that grease on and everything that was there began to rise to the surface.

Everything that was unhealthy about the health care industry rose to the surface and like a volcano erupted.

And health care workers

who maybe had always been able to find a balance between this is, you know, there are times that this is brutal and this is unhealthy and there are times that I'm questioning and there are times that I'm frustrated about this and I'm angry about this particular policy or I'm feeling handcuffed about that.

But the balance is I took care of this person and I experienced this joy and I saved this life.

that balance was thrown off by the pandemic.

And there wasn't a, you couldn't keep up.

You couldn't, there wasn't enough of the joy because so many fatalities, so many casualties, so little PPE, so little support, so many people, the whole world angry, the whole world going through mental health problems, the whole world going through despair and anxiety and darkness and distance.

I think that the healthcare industry is experiencing the aftermath of it, right?

All of that takes a toll.