When Dolson Anderson traveled with his wife from their home in Richmond, Virginia to Baltimore in late March 2020, he and his family had no idea how much everything was about to change amidst the COVID-19 crisis.
Anderson was admitted to the emergency department at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center in March for what would be the beginning of a 25-day battle with the novel Coronavirus. Unresponsive to initial treatments, Anderson was intubated and transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“There were times on the ventilator I realized he may not come out of this,” daughter Jana Carter said. “The hospital staff seemed like they never gave up hope, which was comforting. They were fighting for him, and also answering all of our family’s questions. They were open with what they were doing for my dad and very receptive to our concerns and our requests.”
With newly created visitor restrictions in place, the only way Anderson was able to interact with his wife and three daughters was by phone and the use of hospital department iPads. Carter credits the video technology available at MedStar Franklin Square with aiding her family, who is spread out over multiple states, during the pandemic. “It eased our minds about what was going on to see and communicate with him. The doctors and nurses tried to relieve some of that anxiety. They said that my dad tried to open his eyes again when he heard our voices.”
Carter shares that our ICU department at MedStar Franklin Square helped her family navigate the situation by taking their calls at all hours to provide the same experience you would receive in person. “My sister and I were up at 3 a.m. to call and check when it was quiet on the floor to talk to staff who were always receptive. I felt that they were very communicative in the midst of everything, they were sensitive to the fact that we could not come in and be with him.”
With the family supporting their father from afar, the medical associates at MedStar Franklin Square provided exemplary care throughout Anderson’s hospitalization. “Thank you for treating my dad like he was a member of your own family. Thank you for keeping up the fight for my dad as long as he was here,” said Carter. “Thank you for looking at my dad as a human and not an experiment since this was such a new virus.” While Anderson succumbed to the illness, Carter reflects on the fact that her family is proud that the medical staff did the best they could with the research they had at the time so that others may have learned from her father’s case to save Coronavirus patients in the future.