Originally published by the San Diego Union Tribune on January 23, 2022 By Paul Sisson
Videography By Nelvin C. Cepeda, John Kelley, Sam Hodgson

Dr. Clay Whiting, IEPC member, was featured in Front-Line Voices with the San Diego Union Tribune. Here is an excerpt of the article in the San Diego Union Tribune.

On Dec. 31, Dr, Clayton Whiting was feeling burnt out after battling through the week after Christmas when the pressure on emergency departments grew particularly heavy. Then, on Jan. 2, he started having coronavirus symptoms that ultimately forced him to skip a planned vacation with his family.

That vacation was to provide the decompression he needed to return refreshed. Instead, he got to spend 10 days quarantined at home. Putting on his scrubs on Jan. 10 for his first shift after his non-vacation, Whiting said he happened to spot a shot of himself back in 1994 as a third-year medical student at Creighton University. The smile on his face in that picture, he said, was so full of hope and desire and compassion that he couldn’t put it away.

“I decided to bring that with me to the front lines so that at 2 a.m., when I was, you know, bearing witness to the pain and suffering of my fellow humanity, I could remind myself of the importance of treating each individual with that same level of compassion and love and caring that I had when I was a third-year medical student,” Whiting said.

Another antidote for 2022? He now starts every shift with a visit to Mercy’s chapel, praying for strength.

To view the interview with Dr. Whiting click here.

To view the full February 2022 newsletter click here.