“I’m Grateful Every Day”
Two years after being hospitalized for COVID-19, an emergency department physician reflects on what it means to be a doctor this Doctors’ Day.
For Dr. Chris Belardi, a longtime physician in the emergency department at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, Doctors’ Day took on new significance after he became a patient.
On March 28, 2020, Dr. Belardi was hospitalized with COVID-19. The team at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center came together to provide him with the kind of care, commitment, and generosity he always showed others. More than five months after being admitted, Dr. Belardi walked out of the hospital to the cheers of his colleagues. Today, he is teaching the next generation of doctors as an assistant professor of clinical emergency medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine.
“The experience of COVID and being a patient has made me really appreciate what we do as physicians,” says Dr. Belardi. “If it weren’t for my colleagues here at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, I wouldn’t be here today. I’m grateful and thankful every day for their medical knowledge and their support.”