AAP Voices Blog

I am a pediatrician for RBK Pediatrics in Commack/Bayshore, Long Island, N.Y.  Like a lot of pediatricians, we have continued to take care of children through this pandemic. It was not a hard decision for us.  

We see kids get really sick all the time, and we wanted to make sure there was someone left to see them. All the pediatricians at our organization continued to work without a grumble. 

On March 30, while cooking dinner, I did my routine temperature check and had a temperature of 100.4. This was not good. 

My wife is a cancer survivor and has severe respiratory issues. I grabbed my "go bag" and left for my office, where I got swabbed for COVID-19 and waited. It was positive. 

Then my wife started to cough. 

Worry filled me — worry that my profession and calling had taken from me my wife.

Luckily my wife and kids did not get sick with COVID from me; their tests came back negative. I, however, moved out of the house for the next three weeks, until I was negative. At significant cost to myself. 

I would say I put my life and family on the line.

Now I am reading that the doctors who see adults and take Medicare are getting help. I am waiting for everyone to remember that pediatricians are doctors, too, and they do not take Medicare.

I am waiting, and I am not sure if it is selfish, but I feel like maybe people like me should have gotten some kind of special treatment. 

I see signs every time I go to the hospital that say we are heroes. I do not feel like a hero; I feel like a forgotten soldier.

Pediatrics often feels like the forgotten specialty, even though everyone needs us at the beginning of their life. I just wish people did not forget about us as they grow up. 

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*The views expressed in this article are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the American Academy of Pediatrics.