Mending Broken Hearts

30. Trust

"You don't have to come," she grumbled. 

"Like hell I don't. I go where you go."

Mid-stride she swung around to face me, "Unless, its to the mosque to get married, right?"

"Madi, that's not -"

In the heat of the moment, I didn't even know how to finish that sentence. Thankfully, I was saved by the the patient we soon reached. Unfortunately, unlike the panic attacks, and cases of dehydration we had been managing the whole day, this man in his 30s was one who could not have have gone without medical attention. He was wearing a mask but obviously breathless, as I examined him, and started coughing and sweating profusely when Madi asked him some basic questions. He introduced himself as 'DeShawn'. His temperature was nearly 102F, and his oxygen level was only 88% on the portable pulse ox machine.

Madi and I looked at each other, both instantly recognizing the symptoms.

"Mr. DeShawn, did you have any coughing or breathing difficulty before coming here. Or did you come into contact with anyone with COVID?" Madi asked him.

"The coughing started last night. I felt a bit warm. But no breathing problems till just now. No one with COVID. But I work with 50 other guys in a cramped warehouse," the man replied in short sentences.

I nodded to Madi, understanding exactly what was going through her mind, and turned to our patient, "Mr DeShawn, you'll need to come with us back to the medical tent. We'll call for an ambulance and get you to the hospital. You may have COVID and it's best that you don't stay out here among other people."

"Oh shucks..." the man's shoulders slumped. "I had a feeling that may be the case, but I so badly wanted to come here and support my people. I promise, though, I kept my mask on the whole time." His gaze darted between Madi and I. "Do you think I might have infected someone else?" he asked remorsefully. 

"Its hard to tell, sir. Being masked and out in the open does reduce chances of spread but they're not zero, especially in a huge crowd. That's all the more reason we need you to come with us to the medical camp." 

Whether it was Madi's respectful tone where so many others would have spoken with harsh judgement, the man was immediately ready for us to assist him back to the camp. Unfortunately, back in the camp we ran into another road block. 

"The ambulance won't be here for another half and hour." I told the group. We had portable oxygen with us, which were able to administer to the patient, but beyond that it was simply a waiting game. Meanwhile, a couple of police in riot gear came by our tent asking us to wrap up since they were starting to clear up the area now that it was past 9 pm, the official end of the protest.

"Sir, we will as soon as the ambulance comes to get our patient. It should be here soon," Madi explained. They nodded politely and moved away to another group of people standing nearby. With the ambulance still 15 minutes away, and reports of police getting impatient and forcefully removing people, and/or arresting them the rest of our team was frantically packing up and getting ready to leave. 

"Guys we have to get out of here now," Elijah held up his phone to show us videos on Twitter of police using rubber bullets and tear gas on the other side of downtown to clear away the demonstrators. "It won't be long before they do the same here."

"I am not leaving till my patient is safely in an ambulance," Madi argued, literally digging her heels in.

"It is getting dangerous. It takes one person to retaliate against the police and all hell breaks loose. I've been there before, and it's not pretty. We can ask the police to stand guard next to him till the ambulance arrives," the ER attending tried to convince my wife-to-be.