It is heartbreaking to hear of COVID-19 fatalities all over the world. But it is particularly painful to see doctors, nurses and hospital staff being affected while caring for patients and losing their lives in the process. Here is the story of one such healthcare worker, 61-year-old Madhvi Aya.
According to the NY Times, “Madhvi Aya had been a doctor in India, then trained to become a physician assistant after she immigrated to the United States. She had worked for a dozen years at Woodhull Medical Center, a public hospital in Brooklyn.”
On March 18, she was admitted to the Long Island Jewish Medical Center after testing positive for the coronavirus. She was infected while treated other people as she wore only a surgical mask. 11 days later, she died fighting the infection.
"I believe in you, please fight back. You're so strong mommy. I love you so much more than you can imagine."
Madhvi Aya worked in the emergency room of a Brooklyn hospital that was battered by the coronavirus. Then she caught the virus herself. https://t.co/UD8cFl8DoN
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 15, 2020
Her 64-year-old husband Raj could not visit her during quarantine because his heart issues makes him more vulnerable to the disease. He was quoted saying, “She was always there for us, whenever we wanted,” but when she got sick, “no one was next to her.”
Her 18-year-old daughter Minnoli Aya who is studying to become a doctor herself revealed that the last thing she said to her mother (via text) was “I love you mommy with all my heart,” and received her reply “Love you.”
‘It's not fair the way she died,’ 18-year-old Minnoli Aya said of her mother, Madhvi Aya, who died of COVID-19 after treating coronavirus patients as a physician's assistant in New York https://t.co/XwBRju42m2 pic.twitter.com/Wpi17WJywv
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 15, 2020
Here is what she texted her daughter 3 days before her death.
Frontline medical workers deserve our respect but also Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits (currently in short supply) that keep them and their families safe. We hope that governments do all they can to provide them to hospitals as soon as possible.