Report from a tiny hospital; weary staff treats friends, family
By Jim Salter and Jeff Roberson
St. Louis-based correspondent Jim Salter and photographer Jeff Roberson teamed up for an intimate look into a 25-bed rural hospital whose medical staff was struggling with deeply personal concerns as they treated people they had known long before the coronavirus hit.
Salter,from rural Missouri himself,has been covering the pandemic in the state all year,on the lookout for undertold stories. When he found a hospital with an extraordinarily accommodating public relations chief,he proposed an all-formats package that would put readers inside the Scotland County Hospital in Memphis,Missouri. As they have for years,he and Roberson collaborated on this package, Salter working the phones to interview patients and staff while Roberson suited up in personal protective gear to capture poignant photos and video on the hospital floor.
Registered nurse Shelly Girardin, left, is illuminated by the glow of a computer monitor as Dr. Shane Wilson examines COVID-19 patient Neva Azinger inside Scotland County Hospital in Memphis, Mo., Nov. 24, 2020. The coronavirus pandemic largely hit urban areas first, but the autumn surge was ravaging rural America, stressing the staffs of tiny hospitals like the one in Scotland County. – AP Photo / Jeff Roberson
Dr. Shane Wilson touches the back of COVID-19 patient Glen Cowell while listening to Cowell’s lungs through a stethoscope at Scotland County Hospital in Memphis, Mo., Nov. 24, 2020. Cowell didn’t think much about the coronavirus until it knocked him to his knees a few weeks earlier, eventually landing him in the only hospital for miles in remote northeastern Missouri. –
Dr. Shane Wilson, left, talks with COVID-19 patient Glen Cowell as the 68-year-old farmer rests in his bed inside Scotland County Hospital in Memphis, Mo., Nov. 24, 2020. Cowell started feeling sick around Nov. 11 before testing positive for coronavirus four days later. He gradually got worse and was eventually admitted to the hospital where cases were on the rise. – AP Photo / Jeff Roberson
Dr. Shane Wilson talks on a phone before performing rounds in a portion of Scotland County Hospital set up to isolate and treat COVID-19 patients, Nov. 24, 2020, in Memphis, Mo. The tiny hospital in rural northeast Missouri was seeing an alarming increase in coronavirus cases. – AP Photo / Jeff Roberson
Registered nurse Shelly Girardin prepares to go on rounds after donning personal protective equipment inside an area of Scotland County Hospital sealed off with plastic to care for the influx of COVID-19 patients, Nov. 24, 2020, in Memphis, Mo. The coronavirus pandemic was devastating rural hospitals, including this tiny 25-bed facility. – AP Photo / Jeff Roberson
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Scotland County Hospital stands in the background nestled among homes in the small town of Memphis, Mo., Nov. 24, 2020. The 25-bed facility, set up to serve patients from six surrounding counties for basic care in the rural northeastern corner of the state, was starting to see a surge in COVID-19 cases. – AP Photo / Jeff Roberson
Housekeeping supervisor Ruth Addison decontaminates an examination room after a COVID-19 patient was treated inside at Scotland County Hospital in Memphis, Mo., Nov. 24, 2020. – AP Photo / Jeff Roberson
Dr. Shane Wilson, left, sits on a bed as he talks with COVID-19 patient JoBeth Harvey while performing rounds in a portion of Scotland County Hospital set up to isolate and treat COVID-19 cases, Nov. 24, 2020, in Memphis, Mo. Harvey was a gym teacher at Wilson’s school and laughingly recalls a day she caught him smoking. She made him and a friend pick up cigarette butts as punishment. – AP Photo / Jeff Roberson
Dr. Shane Wilson, left, and registered nurse Shelly Girardin put on personal protective equipment before performing rounds in a portion of Scotland County Hospital set up to isolate and treat COVID-19 patients, Nov. 24, 2020, in Memphis, Mo. – AP Photo / Jeff Roberson
Registered nurse Shelly Girardin removes a protective mask, leaving marks on her face, after performing rounds in a COVID-19 unit at Scotland County Hospital in Memphis, Mo., Nov. 24, 2020. Across the U.S., the case surge has swamped hospitals and left nurses and other health care workers shorthanded and burned out. – AP Photo / Jeff Roberson
Paper bags containing N95 masks hang on a bulletin board waiting to be used again by staff inside a portion of Scotland County Hospital where COVID-19 patients have been isolated, Nov. 24, 2020, in Memphis, Mo. The rural hospital was facing staffing shortages so severe that the hospital put out an appeal for anyone with health care experience, including retirees, to come to work. – AP Photo / Jeff Roberson
Emergency room nurse Linda Morgan sits at her desk inside Scotland County Hospital in Memphis, Mo., Nov. 24, 2020. The tiny hospital’s staff was dealing with the influx of COVID-19 patients and was being asked to work more and more hours as colleagues fell ill themselves. – AP Photo / Jeff Roberson
Light from a computer monitor illuminates the face of registered nurse Shelly Girardin as she cares for COVID-19 patients at Scotland County Hospital in Memphis, Mo., Nov. 24, 2020. – AP Photo / Jeff Roberson
Said Roberson: “What makes this story different and interesting to me are the close relationships between the hospital and its patients. The fact they are often neighbors, coworkers and sometimes even family makes the story unique and somehow more personal.”
