LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – After putting a coronavirus patient onto a ventilator to help him to breathe, Dr. Zafia Anklesaria noted to herself that her baby never kicked during emergency procedures.
Co-director of the intensive care unit at CommonSpirit’s Dignity Health California Hospital Medical Center, Dr. Zafia Anklesaria, 35, who is seven months pregnant, removes a tracheostomy tube from COVID-19 patient Vicente Arredondo, 65, in the intensive care unit at the hospital where she works, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 18, 2020. “Yay, you did it, you are officially liberated!” said Anklesaria to Arredondo after she removed the tube. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
It was not until she was back in her office and had removed most of her protective equipment that he made his presence known.
Anklesaria is seven months pregnant with her first child. The 35-year works as a co-director of the intensive care unit at CommonSpirit’s Dignity Health California Hospital Medical Center, a downtown Los Angeles hospital that mostly serves lower-income Hispanic and African-American populations.
The hospital’s 22-bed COVID-19 intensive care unit has been at or close to capacity since the end of March. Some nurses are pulling 24-hour shifts due to the high volume of patients in critical condition, she said.
“The socio-economic class that we serve, people tend to live in close quarters,