Photo shows doctor kissing ‘vulnerable’ and ‘lonely’ COVID-19 patient on Thanksgiving

© Go Nakamura, Getty Images
Dr Joseph Varon kisses and comforts a COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) patient during Thanksgiving at United Memorial Medical Center on November 26 in Houston, Texas.

Photographer Go Nakamura has visited a COVID-19 intensive care unit in Houston about 20 times, but he never gets used to what he sees there.

Take photos that are too graphic to be shared; one day seeing patients who will be gone when he returns later in the week – there’s no getting used to, he told USA TODAY on Saturday.

But on Thanksgiving, Nakamura captured an image of compassion that has captured national attention as the United States turns under a record number of daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

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Photo shows Dr Joseph Varon, dressed in protective gear, kissing a patient who has collapsed in his arms.

In the moments leading up to the shot, the patient clearly felt “vulnerable … alone,” Nakamura said.

The patient had mistaken the photographer for a medical professional. Soon these professionals arrived to help.

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Varon often gets close to patients, in Nakamura’s experience. The doctor is known to offer cheerful words of encouragement. But a hug is something that is rarely seen.

Nakamura was focused on capturing the moment, so he didn’t hear the sweet words spoken after the shutter clicked. But based on his experience at United Memorial Medical Center, he’s sure they were kind and heartwarming.

To the public, Varon offered different words: “America is going to experience the darkest days in modern American medical history” if the nation “doesn’t do it right” in the weeks to come.

It was her message to CNN on Wednesday, hours before the Thanksgiving image was captured.

He told the network that he worked for more than 250 consecutive days. He said his hospital was full and increasing capacity, bracing for an expected increase in cases after the holidays.

Nakamura plans to continue documenting, knowing he will see more of the same: patients on life support; “People suffer and die.”

But through it all, Nakamura pays homage to those on the front lines: “I am grateful to witness a wonderful time and I thank all the medical staff for their hard work even during the holiday season,” he said. he wrote while sharing the photo on social networks. media.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Photo shows doctor kissing ‘vulnerable’ and ‘lonely’ COVID-19 patient on Thanksgiving