Resiliency of the Human Spirit Shines Forth During Pandemic

Evi Abada, MD, MS, a third-year resident in anatomic and clinical pathology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Detroit Medical Center in Michigan, has been amazed at how all of her colleagues have stepped up during the COVID-19 pandemic to support one another.

“I didn’t realize how resilient human beings can be,” said Dr. Abada, a member of the ASCP Resident Council. “For example, at the start of pandemic, we switched from in-person studies to online. Initially, there was trepidation as to how it would work, but it actually transitioned seamlessly.”

That is just one of many examples of how she and her colleagues have adapted during this once-in-a-hundred-year pandemic, which has impacted so many lives.

Dr. Abada has also been greatly heartened by her residency program leaders’ efforts to ensure that their residents were doing OK. “Everyone has made it a point to be there for each other,” she said. “When the pandemic started, we still had to come to the hospital, especially those of us in surgical pathology. This was something new, and it made us uncomfortable, but the attendings have been very supportive. We had a sense that they really cared, as they were constantly checking in with us.”

If there is any take-away lesson when the pandemic is over, she said it would be that “we, as human beings, should not stress over some things as much as we do. There is room for flexibility, and there are many different ways to accomplish a task.”

Flexibility has also been key for Melissa Straub Hogan, MD, chair of the ASCP Resident Council and a cytology fellow at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which has been a hub of COVID-19 research. She had initially been part of the COVID-19 testing team put together by the VUMC Molecular Infectious Diseases Laboratory.

“Roles quickly changed and evolved during this time because this pandemic is something we’ve never had to worry about or gear up for before in such a high capacity,” she said. “So we did whatever was needed to be done, whether it was contacting providers to explain how to properly package the testing, making sure the hospital team knew the process of how the testing worked and anything in between.

“We started COVID-19 testing early March, and I was a resident on the microbiology service at that time,” Dr. Hogan continued. “In the beginning, we were just trying to catch our footing and be the best help we could be to facilitate such a change in the service for the residents and the lab, in general. As residents, we aided in the reporting system with our admin team, and our jobs changed daily to do whatever was needed. It was definitely a time for growth, learning lab management and promoting the importance of the lab.”