ON THE FRONT LINES
Baltimore critical care physician Dr. Jaime Barnes seeks balance in a pandemic
Day in the Life is a series of occasional articles in which The Baltimore Sun looks at how Marylanders have been making their way through the coronavirus pandemic.
Today: How critical care physician, Dr. Jaime Barnes, balances time caring for her ICU patients and raising her family.
Dr. Jaime Barnes, D.O., is a critical care physician who takes care of COVID-19 patients at Sinai and Northwest hospitals. She is the chair of the Department of Medicine at both hospitals, which are part of the LifeBridge Health system.
Dr. Barnes has helped create new procedures and protocols for patients with the COVID-19 virus while spending 18 to 20-hour days preparing for the initial COVID-19 surge.
After taking care of patients at the hospital, Dr. Barnes is very careful to clean her bags and shoes before getting in her car to head home.
Once home she decontaminates everything before seeing her three children and dog, Pepper. Finding time to unwind at her pool, running and reading are a few of the things she enjoys during her time off.
I always wipe down my bags and shoes after I leave the hospital before I get in my car. I also completely decontaminate when I get home and only enter through the basement.
One of brightest parts of my day: coming home to Pepper.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is critical when treating COVID-19 patients. In the intensive care unit, we have the highest level of PPE requirements.