I wasn’t familiar with StoryCorps until I received an invitation to record with them. They were looking for people who were front-line workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Once I learned that the recording would be archived in the Library of Congress, I signed up.
Here’s the recording of the interview. It’s about 48 minutes long.
I still believe that most people don’t want to hear anything about the pandemic. Prior to the recording, I have said little about it. (My conversation partner in the recording has been a close friend of mine for over 20 years. Almost everything I shared during our recording she had never heard before.)
There was a time when I literally could not say anything about it: my mind would go blank, my chest would tighten, and no speech would come out.
“I don’t know,” I’d finally say. The blankness—how expansive it was, how it encompassed everything—was overwhelming.
I myself have not listened to the recording and don’t expect that I will anytime soon. Even though the recording was nearly an hour, it still wasn’t enough time. (Enough time for what?) Working as the medical director during the pandemic was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my professional career. I am thankful that I was given the chance to talk about it.
If one person, 100 years from now, before, during, or after another pandemic, benefits from hearing my experiences, then it will have been worth it. May they learn from my experiences and errors.
Maria Yang, MD 