Dan Nissim is a software engineer who works remotely and his wife Laura is a Board Certified Legal Nurse Consultant who works at a law firm in Westchester County but is now working from home as well. The couple says there hasn’t been a lot of change professionally for either of them but their daily lives have changed in a number of ways: “We have concerns about going out and meeting people and, of course, there is the inability to do the things that we normally do, day-to-day like going to the supermarket, or hair salon and getting dental/medical care.“
Dan: Because I work from home full time I depend on going out to the gym and even shopping to get some interaction with people, so not being able to go out and interact is very frustrating. The biggest change is not being able to see our family face to face. That’s the most difficult. On the entertaining side I can finally get a little revenge on my children and not do exactly as they would have me do!
We hope that there can be a greater world understanding that we are all in this, no matter where we live, what we look like and what language we speak. That this virus is a great equalizer as it doesn’t particularly care whether we are old or young, it strikes all with equal measure. Our fear is that we will be out the other side of this and NOTHING has changed and that the crisis has further polarized us socially and politically. Sadly, with the way the U.S. is now, it’s unlikely to be much different and [the situation] may even be used by others to make things much worse.
It is particularly frustrating as both of us have elderly parents that need and want support and social media just doesn’t cut it for some things. I have a brother that has end-stage lung cancer and I go to sleep and wake up wondering if I will see him again before he dies. I’m struggling with the wisdom of driving the few hours to see him.
We hope that there can be a greater world understanding that we are all in this…
Laura: I am on social media, trying to speak logically, and sometimes clinically, to folks who are afraid. A friend who had lung surgery has needed support as she is very fearful. Others just really need to laugh. I am in frequent contact with my siblings and my 89 year old mother.
Some people are alarmists, using social networking to escalate conversations that need clarity and calm. Some friends I know are struggling with the social isolation and fears for the future, which then is impacting their health. I know there are many who are unable to work, to earn a living that they count on while others, like restaurant people, continue to struggle day-to-day, hoping that their place of business can remain open and come out the other side of this to continue on.
We continue to believe that the people will try to do the right things in this crisis. We are trying as a couple, along with our family, to keep our spirits up–enjoy the sunshiny days and the flowers that are blooming, regardless of the world’s current insanity. Dan would love to help in some concrete way but isn’t finding much that a software engineer can do to help. We want to support the efforts of others and are here if there are people in need that we can help. The state of Connecticut just called on health care people to help relieve some of the active healthcare workforce. It is something I’m thinking hard about.