When Alan Hawes goes to work on the Medical College of South Carolina, he brings with him a particular capacity — a expertise, actually — that he makes use of when he cares for the sickest of the sick COVID-19 sufferers: he takes photos of what individuals outdoors the hospital would by no means see.
That is as a result of earlier than he turned a nurse 11 years in the past, Hawes spent 23 years as a newspaper photographer, and that offers him the flexibility to inform the tales of those sufferers. His work on the entrance strains of the pandemic gave himself and the world some highly effective perspective.
"CBS Mornings" lead nationwide correspondent David Begnaud first advised Hawes' story final January. He just lately spoke with Hawes once more as a part of a brand new weeklong "CBS Mornings" collection the place Begnaud is checking in with individuals he is launched us to over the previous few years to ask one easy query: "How are you now?"
Hawes nonetheless pictures COVID sufferers, and the attitude these photos carry has continued to widen. Again in January, he advised Begnaud he needed to present sight to what caregivers have been seeing on the peak of the pandemic.
"So many frontline staff have stated to us, 'If solely the general public might see what we see,'" Hawes stated on the time.
Certainly one of his photos reveals a lady who was very sick with a prayer material her household had introduced her as they could not be there along with her. She later died.
In one other, a person is seen texting individuals on his cellphone telling them what is going on on. Hawes stated he took that image as a result of he felt like "he knew the place he was going." The person ended up being intubated. He was unvaccinated however survived.
"I've fairly just a few occasions had a affected person who's unvaccinated, and I am going to assume to myself, 'You probably did this to your self,'" Hawes advised Begnaud in January.
"However that does not final lengthy. A part of being a very good nurse is having empathy," he stated. "When you hear the tales of a few of our sufferers from their relations, you may turn into a fan of that individual and also you simply know that they've made a nasty resolution."
Hawes' photos assist humanize these individuals. However he stated he is had a "actually exhausting time" as a result of nurses are emotionally "damaged proper now."
Different scenes he is captured embody a mom holding an image of a new child she could not contact, a girlfriend who saved a bedside journal, and considered one of Hawes' personal colleagues, a triple-vaccinated nurse who suffers from bronchial asthma.
Sufferers and relations give him permission to photograph them. Hawes stated he doesn't take photos of his personal sufferers so the pictures do not intervene along with his nursing job.
Hawes normally by no means sees these households once more. However in January, he did get to see the spouse of a 72-year-old affected person who had died of COVID-19. CBS Information captured the emotional reunion as the 2 held and thanked one another.
That was seven months in the past.
When Begnaud checked in with him to see how he is doing, Hawes stated he is been busy, however otherwise.
"We nonetheless have quite a lot of sufferers however not the quantity of sufferers that we had earlier than they usually're typically not as sick as they have been earlier than," Hawes stated, including that his life has modified because the story initially aired.
"I heard from individuals all throughout the nation," he stated. "I received handwritten notes despatched to my home thanking me for every part that I do. I heard from well being care staff throughout the nation saying that they felt like I used to be talking for them."
Though he continues to see sufferers who do not consider within the vaccine, Hawes stated he finds himself not asking that query as a lot as a result of he does not wish to know the reply.
One highly effective scene he captured after the story aired earlier this yr confirmed a household saying goodbye to a affected person named Victor Rodriguez earlier than withdrawing care from him.
"It was intestine wrenching. There was quite a lot of love there, his spouse climbed in mattress with him to be with him for the final time," Hawes stated.
These photos have had a huge impact on him.
"That was a very exhausting one to take," Hawes stated. "I did not wish to disturb something and when his spouse, Diane, received within the mattress with him, I simply thought that was one of the vital lovely issues that you possibly can do over the past minutes that you will have with the one you love."