An Extraordinary Joe

We here in the State of Concrete Gardens have been in the cross-hairs of COVID-19 for, approximately, the past forty-five days.  If you live here and, by this point, have little recollection of February and only vague memories and credit card statements to serve as reminders of Christmas, you affected recall is understandable.  Around here, it feels as if we have crammed a lot of time into the months of March and April.  A decade or two.  At least. 

Among those who have felt the brunt of this pandemic are the men and women who work in our state's hospitals and medical centers.  The toll on them, emotionally, physically, mentally, and psychologically is seemingly incalculable.  Then, a doctor, a nurse, or an EMT dies of COVID-19 and their colleagues, and all of us, are reminded that there is something even worse than their unending feeling of battle fatigue.  Something much, much worse. 

Francis Molinari, M.D. is one of New Jersey's fallen heroes.  Dr. Molinari fell ill while treating COVID-19 patients at the Meadowlands field hospital a few weeks ago.  He was admitted March 29, 2020 to Clara Maass Medical Center, where he had joined the staff a couple of years ago following his retirement from his full-time practice.  There, men and women with whom he worked, intubated him and, thereafter, put him on a ventilator.  He died in Clara Maass on April 9, 2020. 

Joe Wojtecki is the Assistant Director of Customer Experience at Clara Maass Medical Center and, therefore, a colleague of Dr. Molinari.  As Dr. Molinari lay near death earlier this month, Mr. Wojtecki used a tablet to FaceTime Dr. Molinari's family, which gave them the opportunity to see him one final time, to remind him how much they loved him, and to say good-bye.  

As COVID-19 has decimated families throughout New Jersey, not simply because of the ferocity with which it strikes but because its very appearance separates the critically ill patient from the patient's family and loved ones, Mr. Wojtecki has been doing yeoman's work.  He has become the bridge between his hospital's critically ill COVID-19 patients and the families who love them but who cannot be with them in their darkest hour.  

-AK