As a nurse on our health and wellness team, Julia frequently recommends employees reach out and use the resources available to get the support they need with all sorts of challenges. But she didn’t expect she’d have to take her own advice for a potentially life-threatening situation in her own family.
Julia’s two-year-old son Brooks has trisomy 21, also known as Down Syndrome, so he is at high risk for severe illness, should he contract COVID-19.
In January, Brooks was diagnosed with pneumonia and was put on an at-home respiratory device. After the COVID-19 outbreak, Julia became more concerned and followed public health directives for her family to self-isolate at home.
As COVID-19 has spread across the world, there have been some misconceptions including that it only affects the vulnerable. While the illness is most likely to be of the greatest danger to seniors and to those with underlying health conditions, it can affect anyone and consequently impact the lives of their loved ones.
To help raise awareness that it can affect anyone and to urge those who may be nonchalant to take the situation more seriously, Julia created this image.
Her request to everyone: “Take care of yourselves, your families and each other. Follow the recommendations of physical distancing. Protect those most vulnerable among us.”
