Anna Carvalho doesn’t know when she’ll be able to hug her daughter again.
In fact, she doesn’t know the next time they’ll even be in the same room.
Carvalho is an emergency doctor at Vancouver General Hospital and one of thousands of B.C. health-care workers on the front lines against the coronavirus pandemic.
A single mother, she recently made the gut-wrenching choice to leave her twin four-year-old girls Vianna and Annalia in the care of her sister and parents.
With the potential exposure to COVID-19 she faces at work, the risk of passing the disease on to her family was too high.
“I laid awake actually for nights trying to figure out what would be the best thing to keep my parents safe, my girls safe,” she told Global News.
“And this is really the only one I could come up with. It was kind of like the least of all evil. For me, it’s hard, but I think it’s actually good for my girls to be with family and have a routine.”
Carvalho said she’s trying to stay connected with the girls through Facetime and phone calls, along with visits through her sister’s window.
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“They know that mommy is fighting the virus,” Carvalho said. “But, you know, I don’t think they get the grand concept of this.”
On Wednesday, Global News recognized Carvalho as a B.C. health-care hero for her hard work at the hospital and her sacrifice for her family.
The physician is quick to note, however, that everyone needs to do their part in this crisis — be it by treating patients in the hospital or practising social and physical distancing.
“We’re all just doing our job,” she said. “If we all do our little bit, I will have much less work to do a couple of weeks from now.”
Read the stories that have been shared with us: Saying thanks to B.C.’s health-care heroes
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