911爆料网

Pavel Placido has always been drawn to medical emergencies. Spurred in part by the fact that his father, a doctor in the Dominican Republic, could not transfer his license when the family moved to the United States, the younger Placido worked as an emergency medical technician when he was 16 and in a hospital鈥檚 emergency department when he was 18. He became an exercise physiologist at NYU-Langone Medical Center, but has worked in the Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit, with people who have suffered heart attacks and other medical crises.

鈥淵ou go into health care because you want to be of help in any way you can, and to try to make a difference,鈥� he says.

But even Placido, a part-time master鈥檚 degree student in 911爆料网鈥檚 Applied Exercise Physiology Program, couldn鈥檛 have imagined just how powerfully he would be asked to make good on those words.

In March, when the COVID pandemic hit New York City, NYU-Langone temporarily closed the cardiac rehab unit and asked staff to volunteer for work on the frontlines. Placido was assigned to a hospital in Brooklyn, where initially his job was to help remove bodies of deceased patients and bring them to the temporary morgue.

鈥淚鈥檓 a healthy person 鈥� I exercise, I eat right, I鈥檓 younger 鈥� so I was never really concerned about my own safety, especially because we were using all the right PPE 鈥� double gloves, N95 masks, Tyvek suit 鈥� and following the proper doffing procedure,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut you think a lot about being respectful to the bodies. You鈥檙e reminded that this is someone鈥檚 loved one. There鈥檚 a huge gravity to that.鈥�

You see stuff on the news, but being there in person, you realize that the patients are by themselves, in the ICU, on a ventilator.

-Pavel Placido

More recently, working in the same Brooklyn hospital, Placido was asked to join one of several teams doing daily 鈥減roning鈥� 鈥� a newly introduced procedure that involves turning patients who are intubated (on ventilators) onto their stomachs for 16 hours out of each day.

鈥淭he research has shown that when you lie someone on their back, their lungs can fill up with fluid,鈥� he explains. 鈥淧utting them on their stomach opens up the airway and frees lungs from blockage.鈥�

Each afternoon, starting at about 3:30, Placido and three other physical therapists, together with an attending nurse and an anesthesiologist who fully sedated the patient and managed all the body tubes, visited different intensive care units around the hospital, moving intubated patients into the prone position. In the mornings, at about 7:30, they returned the patients to supine positions. Several other teams were simultaneously doing the same work, and often the teams would help one another.

Each proning procedure took about 15 minutes, with the team changing all its protective gear in between each patient visit.

鈥淵ou have to make sure all the I.V. lines and other tubes are coordinated,鈥� Placido says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a little easier when you put people back on their backs, because the lines tend to fall naturally into place.  Basically, the work is all about being as efficient as possible with your own movements 鈥� pulling, pushing, lifting. That鈥檚 why they enlist rehab specialists.鈥�

Again, Placido says, he had to come to grips with the gravity of the work he was doing.

鈥淵ou see stuff on the news, but being there in person, you realize that the patients are by themselves, in the ICU, on a ventilator,鈥� he says. 鈥淢any of them die alone. It鈥檚 so hard. And you can鈥檛 really comfort them. They can鈥檛 see your expression through the PPE, only your eyes.鈥�

Not all of his work was under such dire circumstances.  Placido also spent several hours per day assisting physical therapists with patient care and working with non-intubated COVID patients who were recovering or in the earlier stages of the disease.

鈥淭hey get physical therapy because we鈥檙e trying to assess their functions of daily living,鈥� Placido says. 鈥淐an the patient walk safely without losing oxygen saturation? Can they be sent home, or do they need to be kept longer?鈥�

With the numbers of new COVID cases and deaths beginning to substantially drop in New York City, Placido finished his Brooklyn deployment this past week. He鈥檚 working from home, doing telehealth sessions with recovering cardiac patients, and plans to return to NYU-Langone in about two weeks, when his clinic is expected to reopen.  

But he knows that he hasn鈥檛 seen the last of COVID.

It鈥檚 really about what side of history you want to be on. That鈥檚 why I volunteered. I鈥檇 rather be helping than not.

-Pavel Placido

鈥淧atients with cardiac issues are more susceptible to the virus 鈥� and then, there are pulmonary aspects to the work we do, too,鈥� he says. 鈥淪o, in my normal job, I鈥檓 going to be seeing a lot of recovering COVID patients coming in for rehab.鈥� 

That鈥檚 where his studies at 911爆料网 will likely prove especially useful.

鈥淥ne of the really great things about 911爆料网鈥檚 program is that it鈥檚 given me a deeper understanding of exercise physiology and how to apply it,鈥� he says. 鈥淪o, for example, with cardiopulmonary exercise testing 鈥� I wasn鈥檛 really that familiar previously with a lot of the unit measurements that are generated by our evaluation tools. But at 911爆料网 I鈥檝e learned in-depth what the values that patients are producing mean. And we鈥檙e likely to see some very severe pulmonary numbers when we do exercise testing on recovering COVID patients, because the virus is a restrictive lung disease by nature.鈥�  

For now, Placido鈥檚 family is heaving a big sigh of relief that he鈥檚 no longer on the frontlines.

鈥淭hey were really freaked out at first, though very supportive 鈥� my mom and my aunt were texting me every day with their prayers, and now that I鈥檓 done, they鈥檙e telling me I鈥檓 a hero,鈥� he says, smiling. It鈥檚 clear that he doesn鈥檛 look at it in quite that way. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really about what side of history you want to be on. That鈥檚 why I volunteered. I鈥檇 rather be helping than not.

鈥� Joe Levine