MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
This week we're thinking about five years ago, when the pandemic hit and changed the world. John Daley from Colorado Public Radio brings us this reflection from one front-line health provider who shared his experience from back then.
JOHN DALEY, BYLINE: Kurt Papenfus is a loquacious 67-year-old doctor. He practices on the rural Eastern Plains of Colorado. Five years ago, he was taking care of patients at the 10-bed Keefe Memorial Hospital in Cheyenne County. He's still chief of staff and medical director there. But before vaccines were available, he himself caught coronavirus, as he told NPR in the fall of 2020.
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KURT PAPENFUS: The rona beast is a very nasty beast, and it is not fun. It has a very mean temper. It loves a fight, and it loves to keep coming after you.
DALEY: When he got sick, he drove himself three hours to Denver, followed by county deputies to make sure he made it to the hospital, where he was admitted with pneumonia. Today, he says the pandemic taught him plenty, including the importance of both the people who work the land in rural Colorado and those who provide their health care.
PAPENFUS: It reinforced pretty much taking care of the rural folks 'cause, with all the supply chains and stuff I was watching, those are the guys that really grow the food that the cities eat.
DALEY: He says the pandemic was rough, challenging and tragic, but also an opportunity to learn new things.
PAPENFUS: What do they call them, pivot points? It was a pivot point in history.
DALEY: It's easy to forget now how many open questions there were at the start of the pandemic, he says, with no vaccine available.
PAPENFUS: I'll tell you what though, in those five years it definitely advanced science by a couple decades. The federal spigot opened up to pour tons of money into research.
DALEY: Papenfus eventually developed long COVID, what he calls COVID brain. The experience was a wake-up call teaching him about self care, something he never learned in his medical education.
PAPENFUS: We were kind of trained to sacrifice yourself on the alter of medicine taking care of other people 'cause that's the noble cause.
DALEY: He did return to work.
PAPENFUS: COVID was a harsh reminder that, yeah, you better take care of yourself 'cause if you can't take care of yourself, how are you going to take care of other people?
DALEY: Dr. Kurt Papenfus says he has bounced back, but he's also cut back his long hours at the hospital.
For NPR News, I'm John Daley in Denver. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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