On the front lines and pregnant, a young doctor navigates the COVID crises
By Nathan Hansen
Life changed for everyone when the COVID-19 pandemic locked down America in March 2020. But for Dr. Melissa Meyers, her situation was a little bit more challenging than most.
Meyers was pregnant, and at the same time, saving lives as a pediatric nephrologist at Children’s National Hospital in Washington D.C., where she was regularly in contact with COVID-19 patients. Meyers, who became a doctor in 2012, started her new position at the hospital on March 3, 2020, about a week before the Novel Coronavirus outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
As soon as the pandemic began, hospitals around the world began fighting for supplies like N95 masks, gloves, and even hospital gowns. But until that point, Meyers only had to wear an N95 mask two or three times during her career. Suddenly, she was wearing one every single day to work. Nurses and doctors at hospitals all around the world had this new challenge to face: a virus that about 96% of healthcare workers were coming in contact with, and studying for the first time.
For her part, Meyers has to work within close contact of her patients, and some were immunocompromised, making them more susceptible to catching and spreading COVID-19 than immunocompetent patients. Occasionally, she had to see patients via iPad or other device, Meyers explained in a phone interview.
Many doctors share their work and findings in person or in medical journals, but early in the pandemic, Meyers also turned to online communities of medical professionals who shared medical advice related to the pandemic. Advice would include various forms of treatment, how to save Personal Protective Equipment or PPE, and how to share equipment like pens, and paper, without transmitting the virus. For Meyers, this online community helped make her feel less stressed and more comfortable and safe on the job.
Many doctors share their work and findings in person or in medical journals, but that was difficult during the pandemic. One of the solutions that Meyers found helpful was joining an online community of medical professionals who shared medical advice related to the pandemic. Advice would include various forms of treatment, how to save Personal Protective Equipment or PPE, and how to share equipment like pens, and paper, without transmitting the virus. For Meyers, this online community helped make her feel less stressed and more comfortable and safe on the job.
Meyer’s home life also changed drastically during the pandemic. When most of the country who could was told to stay home, medical person were needed more than ever. Meyers, of course, was still showing up to work and seeing patients. But she needed to take precautions while at work so that her family would stay safe.
“In the beginning, I took as little home with me as possible,” said Meyers. “I wiped down surfaces and equipment after every use, and made sure to sanitize before I left the hospital.” Around six months into Meyers’ pregnancy, there was not much information on how COVID-19 could affect pregnancies, but there was data that suggested and supported that some pregnant women have a higher risk of dying if they contract COVID-19. Meyers was confident that the precautions she took were good enough for her to be able to complete her pregnancy.
But she still had her fair share of concerns, as she and her husband were curious if her husband would be able to join her in the hospital when she gave birth to her first child. Most hospitals were not allowing guests at the time of her pregnancy. In order to prevent that, Meyers and her husband took the precautions very seriously. “This may sound extreme today, but my husband created a disrobing chamber outside my house around April 2020, where I could take my work clothes off and change into clean clothes,” she said.
Meyers explained that she kept the homemade chamber open and used it every time she left or exited her home, even after she gave birth. This process allowed her to feel more comfortable while entering her own home, and helped keep her COVID-19 free.
The last four weeks of Meyers’ pregnancy, Meyers worked from home and did not go see any patients in person. And she only left her house on her due date. Last June, she gave birth to a health baby girl.
In addition to becoming a mother, the pandemic has had some other silver linings.
“I think the pandemic helped me expand the ways I help my patients,” Meyers said. “For example, telemedicine consults. Those wouldn’t have been as ubiquitous without the pandemic. The pandemic helped me understand the value of when and how I take care of patients.I got into medicine to help children and their families. I still do that but now I have more options for how I can do that while maintaining their safety. I can’t see every patient by telemedicine, but when I can, it’s one more option, it is one more option in my armamentarium,” she said, a term that encompasses the medicines, equipment, and techniques available to a medical practitioner.
Part of the light at the end of the tunnel for Meyers has been getting vaccinated—and reuniting with family. It happens that Meyers and her father, an ICU doctor in Florida, both received their first doses of the vaccine on the same day, making it possible for him to meet his first grandchild in May.
