The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
In for the long run
Health care worker running virtual marathon to benefit COVID-19 fund
BRISTOL — A health care worker who spent the last year caring for those suffering from COVID-19 will be hitting the pavement this fall to raise money for Hartford Hospital’s relief fund to help patients facing financial challenges because of the pandemic.
Adam Levine is a dedicated runner, father of two children and husband to Kristin Levine, and a nurse at Bristol Health. A respiratory therapist, he has spent the last year caring for people suffering from the effects of COVID-19, and often would be one of the few people in the room when a patient took their last breath.
It’s been a difficult time for so many of his own coworkers at Hartford Hospital; and now that the long, exhausting days are coming to an end, Levine said he wanted to do something to help people who are still in need.
The obvious choice for a fundraiser was a run of some sort, he said.
“I ran in the Hartford Marathon a few years ago, and I knew there was going to be a Boston Marathon in the fall,” he said. “It was recently moved from April, when it’s usually held, to October. It’s going to be a virtual one, and they have spaces for 70,000 people. I signed up and got in. I had to prove to them that I am running the 26.2 miles, and wondered how I could put it out there, to get people to support me.”
Levine said it’s 26.2 miles from his home in Bristol to Hartford Hospital. He’s planned a route that will include stops at other local hospitals along the way, including Bristol Health, John Dempsey, St. Francis Hospital and Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, and ending at the entrance of Hartford Hospital. He has set a fundraising goal of $10,000, and so far has raised about $6,000 on his gofundme page.
Levine grew up in Colebrook and New Hartford, and remembers the hills that were perfect for a budding runner like himself.
“I remember running the hills in New Hartford,” he said. “I just enjoyed being outside. I’m an avid skier and ice skater, and I always felt running was a good fundamental base for all my other activities. With my two kids, I stress how important exercise is. I guess I’m pretty passionate about running.”
The idea to support the hospital, he said, is a way to continue helping patients and families.
“I teamed up with Hartford Hospital to raise the money for their COVID-19 relief fund,” he said. “The money will go back to people affected, with medical needs; patients who are still sick,” he said. “All the money will go to those patients.”
Levine has worked as a respiratory therapist for about 10 years. When the pandemic hit the state in 2020, Hartford Hospital saw a wave of patients. “We were really hit very hard with COVID-19 back in the springtime last year,” he said. “It died down last summer and peaked again in the fall. Now it’s back down again, as people get vaccinated.”
Levine and his coworkers were the only ones able to see their patients daily last year. “There were no visitors; no families were allowed inside,” he said. “The health care workers were tagteaming people, taking care of families’ loved ones. Dealing with this was very drastic and dramatic. You’re working with patients, and you’re not sure how it’s going to go . ... You’re trying to protect yourselves and your families at the same time. It was really difficult.”
Levine wants people to know how hard it was for frontline workers in the hospitals around Connecticut, and how resilient those workers are.
“COVID-19 is a respiratory virus, and we were always worried about people with preexisting conditions, whether it be COPD, or asthma, or diabetes, or if you had a certain thing in your past medical history, the virus could hit you. We were so worried about certain patients, and, unfortunately, we saw this virus attack everyone,” he said. “It really hit home. I’m 39, and I saw people my age, if not younger, impacted by this virus, who died in front of me.”
When a patient with COVID-19 was admitted to Hartford Hospital, they didn’t get better overnight. “It wasn’t a quick turnaround,” Levine said. “It was a long period where they were in the hospital, a few weeks or more, because they weren’t getting better.
“We saw a lot of people pass away,” he said. “Not everyone did, but a lot of people were just so sick.”
Levine is very proud to work at Hartford Hospital. “I can’t imagine working for a better hospital or a better respiratory department,” he said. “We have a great staff, great managers and supervisors, and they made sure we had all the equipment and protective gear we needed.
“The problem at first was that the testing was slow; it took time to get the results back, and sometimes there was such a delay in the onset of symptoms,” he said. “People could be walking around with COVID-19, and because it took 14 days to find out for sure, who knows who they impacted during that time. So we did everything we could to protect ourselves.”
At home, Levine and his wife were worried about their own children and family members. “We make sure we’re eating right, taking vitamins, exercising . ... We wanted to be as healthy as we could, and take care of ourselves. We were basically isolated . ... Family members didn’t want to see me because they were scared about me being around people with COVID-19 all the time.”
Overall, Levine said, the Hartford Hospital team stayed healthy. “People with the virus; it was really a small percentage, overall,” he said. “Most of the staff worked their normal hours, and sometimes they’d stay at a hotel so they wouldn’t put other people at risk. When I got home, I’d change in the garage. I worked second shift and came home at midnight, and I’d run through the house, get my clothes in the washing machine, change my shoes, everything.”
Today, Levine said, the precautions health care workers take to protect themselves and their patients haven’t changed, but the pressure has eased.
“Once you’re vaccinated, you do feel safer, but it’s not 100 percent, and you have to be careful,” he said. “You still need to protect yourself. Things are back to normal, and at the hospital we’re allowing visitors again, which is good for the patients.
“It’s a trickle of people with COVID-19 right now; at one point, we had 500 or 600 people, and right now we only have about 20 patients,” he said. “But we’re still protecting ourselves, and our team has learned to take care of people with better outcomes.
“Life’s getting back to normal,” Levine said. “With springtime and the warmer weather, it’s a new lease on life. It definitely scared a lot of people, but we’re all trying to move on.”
He hopes people will support his marathon by making a donation, and has dedicated his run to the people who died from COVID-19.
“I can’t speak more highly of our hospital and what they do,” he said. “The pandemic has impacted a lot of people, and this is a way to help.”
To donate, visit https://rb.gy/fkfyoy. Levine also invites people to follow him on Facebook at https://rb.gy/wbhqrf.