Bakersfield family sends message with photo of their kids in Dr. Dad’s scrubs
Every day, Stephanie Scurlock watches her husband, Dr. Joshua Scurlock, go to work knowing he and countless other health care professionals are placing themselves in harm’s way on the front lines of COVID-19.
The Scurlocks are “Bakersfield people” who both graduated from Stockdale High in
2004, but Joshua is currently serving his medical residency at a hospital in central Massachusetts.
The couple and their three young children have recently been featured by a number of news outlets, including TODAY, and the London Daily Mail after an Instagram photo Stephanie captured of the couple’s children dressed in their dad’s scrubs took off on social media.
“When I posted this photo back on March 27, we were
very much in the beginning stages of a ‘shelter in place’ here in Massachusetts and nationally,” Stephanie Scurlock said in an email. “I had been reading and seeing a lot of really opposing views regarding these orders and I felt pretty strongly as the wife of a physician working in the hospital and being exposed to COVID-19 that we needed to heed the orders of our government and health officials.”
Not only was Stephanie worried about her husband’s safety, their children’s health was also at the forefront of her mind.
“We could stay home every minute of every day and we — the kids and I — would still be at a fairly high risk of exposure because of Josh’s job,” she said.
That worry prompted Stephanie to grab her camera, dress the kids in their dad’s hospital scrubs and post it on social media.
A sign held by their eldest daughter reads, “Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear scrubs... like our daddy. Stay home.”
The message struck a chord.
“I think there are many people who, especially at the time, were not taking this virus very seriously because they considered themselves young, healthy and basically immune from becoming seriously ill,” Stephanie Scurlock said.
“Others believe that any health care worker complaining about lack of PPE (masks, gloves, etc.) or increased risk of exposure to coronavirus should just be quiet and do their job,” she said. “This upset me for myriad reasons, the biggest one being that many health care workers, like my husband, have families at home who become at risk, and they aren’t ‘doing their job.’ Our kids are at risk because their dad is doing his and my hope was that reminding people that when they make the choice to stay home, it doesn’t just affect their health or the health of healthcare staff, but it affects the spouses, children, and families of health care workers too.
“Our choices have a ripple affect and we need to be aware of that,” she said.
As a young physician, Joshua Scurlock said going home to his wife and three children gives him pause.
“If I didn’t have the responsibility of a family at home, I think work would be significantly less stressful,” he said.
“Overall, I think Stephanie’s message is representative of the nation as a whole,” he said. “Granted, we obviously share very similar viewpoints so I’m inherently biased. We were raised in Bakersfield and have been on this medical journey together for the past 10 years.
“I’m not asking people to think about me prior to leaving home. But, I will ask people to think about their individual choices at the behest of my family.
“We’re currently under a stay at home order, both in California and in Massachusetts. For the time being I don’t think it’s too much to ask to only go out for essential business. Also, yes, masks are uncomfortable, but is it really that cumbersome to just wear them?”
As the pandemic stretches into months, some Americans are protesting the lockdown, arguing COVID-19 is no worse than a seasonal flu, that it didn’t merit such a strong response.
“I’ve recently seen some of my colleagues, unfortunately including some physicians in Bakersfield, echoing this rhetoric,” Dr. Scurlock said.
“To compare COVID-19 to the seasonal flu is extremely disingenuous... The seasonal flu kills approximately 0.1 percent per year... In the best-case scenario COVID-19’s kill rate is going to be 0.6 percent,” he said. “I personally think this is an underestimate. Nevertheless it still does the argument justice.”
It means COVID-19 will have a kill rate 6 times that of the seasonal flu.
Those making the argument that COVID-19 is like a seasonal flu should join him in the intensive care unit for a few days, Dr. Scurlock said.
“Or, we can go to the DCU Center, similar to Rabobank Arena, where overflow patients are being treated because there’s no space left on the hospital wards.
“My hospital, University of Massachusetts, has over 70 deaths from COVID-19. Our intensive care units are being expanded on a daily basis,” he said. “The entirety of my surgical residency has been re-deployed to combat the effects of this ‘seasonal flu.’
“As a nation we will move on from this,” he said. “But it won’t be the same as a bout of seasonal flu.”
Steven Mayer can be reached at 661395-7353. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: @semayerTBC.