On March 7, 2020, the Vermont Department of Health It was in Bennington County, at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center. The patient was one of Dr. Marinshine Gentler鈥檚.
Early in 2021, VPR reporters began reaching out to family members of Vermonters who died after contracting COVID-19. This is the second in a series of stories about their lives and what they left behind. Watch for three more stories throughout the week. Find stories and memories of those lost from their loved ones, .
鈥淭he first one is always going to be a surprise,鈥� she said in an interview, 鈥渂ut I thought it would all start in Chittenden County.鈥�
Gentler is an internal medicine doctor at the 99-bed Southern Vermont hospital. She says they provide the best care they can there, but sometimes, if a patient鈥檚 really sick, they鈥檒l send them to a bigger hospital.
"I just remember feeling like ... I'm what this guy has right now," - Dr. Marinshine Gentler
鈥淎nd so I inquired about this, about sending [the first COVID patient] elsewhere. And it was so new that the responses that I got from every place that I called were, 鈥榃e can't help you,鈥欌€� Gentler said.
Not because they didn鈥檛 want to, she said, but because no one was prepared to move a patient with this novel infectious disease. So it was all left to her and her colleagues. That, she said, was terrifying.
鈥淚 just remember feeling like ... I'm what this guy has right now.鈥�
In the year since that first patient, treating COVID-19 has become less terrifying. While there are still a lot of unknowns when it comes to the coronavirus, much more is known now about the disease and how to treat it. And there are three vaccines.
For Gentler, some things have become routine 鈥� like putting on layers of PPE. But that comes with its own challenges.
鈥淚n order to protect yourself from airborne pathogens, you have to wear either a respirator or an N95 mask,鈥� she said, and through those layers, 鈥渋t鈥檚 very hard to make myself heard.鈥�
Gentler is soft spoken, with a voice easily muffled by layers of PPE. And often, patients鈥� rooms have huge fans hooked up to create negative pressure; this helps keep pathogens contained, but it鈥檚 loud.
鈥淚 had a patient fairly recently,鈥� she recalled, 鈥渨here for weeks I would struggle with going in and trying to make myself heard through my mask and his increasing frustration with that.鈥� She even tried hooking up a small microphone inside her respirator. 鈥淎nd when I walked in to talk to him he said, 鈥業 still can't hear you or understand you.鈥欌€�
And on top of that, COVID patients are kept in isolation, sometimes for weeks.
"Any time you're working on someone's health for that long in the hospital, you're pretty invested in the outcome both personally and professionally." - Dr. Marinshine Gentler
It鈥檚 been like this for a year, ever since that first COVID patient last March. Since then, Gentler has had something like 50 more patients with COVID-19 鈥� she doesn鈥檛 know the exact number. But she remembers all those who haven鈥檛 made it.
鈥淯m, we鈥檝e had several die. I think I personally have taken care of maybe ... three ... three or four who鈥檝e died, I think,鈥� she said. 鈥淎ny time you鈥檙e working on someone鈥檚 health for that long in the hospital, you鈥檙e pretty invested in the outcome both personally and professionally.鈥�
Each outcome is, of course, unpredictable. But some people do better than expected, like that very first COVID patient: he made it.
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