INDIANAPOLIS — Dr. Courtney Welch is an adopted Hoosier. She calls herself a "plant mom" who loves to hike, especially at Eagle Creek.
The Texas native also identifies strongly with her faith.
"I feel like sometimes just saying a prayer to have that motivation that's outside of me," Welch said.
It's something she's relied heavily on during the pandemic.
"It might be my every day, but it's someone else's worst day of their life."
Her every day is spent part of the time at Methodist Hospital's COVID-19 Unit.
Dr. Welch is a third year internal medicine and pediatrics resident.
"On the frontlines, it's hard to see people still suffering," she said.
Fighting a pandemic on the frontlines was certainly not on a syllabus.
"I think it was really motivating at the beginning to see that together, fighting the good fight," Welch said.
But the waning community support over the last few months, hurts.
"That feeling of us all being together on the same team," she said. "I miss it, I long for it a little bit."
And, Welch adds it's becoming tiring talking into the noise.
"We're all saying, 'please get vaccinated' and then people that are resistant to that still want medical care and we're happy to give that to them," she explained. "We are happy to fight the fight with you, but we want you to help."
With the Delta variant, she's seeing young Hoosiers with no underlying conditions and pregnant women in the COVID-19 unit.
"How I stay motivated is knowing I have patients who weren't vaccinated and calling their family members and saying, Run! Run to your CVS, your hospital to get your vaccine," Welch said.
Preventative care is the single most important thing Welch feels she can do right now.
“I don’t want to be doom and gloom, but I think as a community we have to think about each other and how we’re best taking care of each other.”
