Ep 108 NYC Frontline Volunteer: Joy Hughes, MD Tells Her Story

May 9, 2020

Hello listeners, today we have an incredible guest, Joy Hughes, MD, here to tell us all about her experience volunteering on the frontlines in New York City.  She bravely decided to go and help out in one of the hardest hit areas and is here to tell us all of the details. You will hear why she decided to go, how she found the position, what she brought with her, what you can expect in a COVID Unit, and her best advice for anyone else that is thinking of doing the same thing.

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My guest today, Joy Hughes, MD, is a double board-certified urgent and critical care physician in private practice in Oxford, Mississippi. She trained at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for six years of residency and fellowship. She is married to a neurosurgeon and has two little girls. She enjoys life in her home state, near lots of family, and serving her rural community. She recently traveled to New York City, as a volunteer, with The Society of Critical Care Medicine to serve in a COVID surge ICU.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why Joy decided to volunteer to travel to New York City.
• How she found a volunteer position so quickly.
• Why she decided to work as a volunteer without pay.
• What did she do to prepare for her trip ahead of time.
• What her first day at the hospital was like.
• Where she was setup in the hospital and what her days entailed.
• What it was like getting geared up with PPE for the COVID Unit.
• How the unit was staffed and how that helped them.
• What the morale was like among the hospital’s staff.
• What she encountered taking care of the COVID Patients and how it was to treat patients with no family members by their sides.
• Why she feels that working in these high-stress units can easily cause burnout.
• What the setup of the unit and equipment was like.
• How she had to learn to use older equipment in the unit that is not normally used in hospitals today.
• How Joy overcame mother’s guilt to go volunteer.
• What she feels those at home can do to help fight this virus.

Links we discussed in the show:

• If you need any assistance, please reach out to The Physician Support Line. You can call them at 1-888-409-0141.
• Also, please reach out to the Suicide Prevention Hotline if you need them at 1-800-273-8255.
• There is also pro-bono teletherapy available to frontline healthcare workers through Project Parachute.
• Check out Joy’s blog and podcast at: Indiedocs.org.

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