Health

16 HE ALTH • Winter 2020 • By Grant Welker Above & Beyond: COVID Champions D r. Keshav Parthasarathy has a unique role at Heywood Hospital in Gardner, and that's no hyperbole: He's the hospital's only intensivist, a job sometimes called a critical care physician but either way is in charge of managing the hospital's most critically ill patients. The coronavirus pandemic has made Parthasarathy and his counterparts at other hospitals as necessary as ever. "The buck stops with me," he said. "It was very challenging." When he wasn't working to come up with treatment plans for Heywood's sickest patients, he was working with colleagues to design coronavirus testing, establish treatment protocols, and evaluate which patients could be safely admitted or which needed to be on supplemental oxygen. The pandemic's early days in particular required extra long shifts to make sure Heywood was prepared for however bad the first wave got. "The spring was definitely intense," Parthasarathy said. Parthasarathy lauds the work of Heywood's medical staff, as well as support in the community from businesses and others who pitched in by making masks, hand sanitizer or other quickly needed materials. The staff managed to do well, and Parthasarathy said he feels proud the small staff at an independent hospital managed to have good outcomes. "We just have to make sure that we stay vigilant," he said. "This will be with us for months more, at least. It's important to keep our guard up." At a time when workers were most concerned about, and unsure of, how easily the virus spread, Parthasarathy had a routine of changing clothes at the hospital, wiping down at home and heading straight to the shower. He still does. "I don't take a chance," he said. Parthasarathy, who grew up in India, grew up knowing he didn't want to follow his family members into a career in engineering. Dr. Parthasarathy cares for the sickest patients "But I thought, 'What else is a combination of science and helping people out?' The next best thing was medicine," he said. "It's the best decision that I've made. I love what I do." Parthasarathy went to medical school in India, where he met a lot of American students who pushed for him to build his career in the United States. Relatives made their way to the U.S. already, and soon enough, he and his wife, who he met at school, were on their way to a new country. Parthasarathy joined Heywood in 2017 after working at Emerson Hospital in Concord. Parthasarathy is used to working with Heywood's sickest patients but, like virtually anyone else in health care, didn't have experience with a widespread and long-lasting pandemic. In critical care, it's important to prioritize needs and keep a big-picture view, he said. He has also thought of the pandemic as more of a marathon than a sprint, a mindset he says has helped him focus on an everyday challenge that isn't going away any time particularly soon. "There is a pandemic fatigue, no doubt about it," he said. "The buck stops with me. It was very challenging," – Dr. Keshav Parthasarathy H PHOTO/COURTESY OF HEYWOOD HOSPITAL Dr. Keshav Parthasarathy Intensivist Heywood Hospital, in Gardner

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