Bartlett Regional | House Calls | Fall 2020

Charlie’s COVID-19 story By Katie Bausler, Community Relations Director Born and raised in Juneau, Charlie Paul has a bright smile; a shock of black hair; and a relaxed, friendly demeanor. When Charlie, 37, felt like he was coming down with the flu, he wasn’t worried about COVID-19. Skeptical that warnings of a pandemic might be purely political, Charlie didn’t see a need to wear a mask. “I didn’t think anything of it,” he says of his symptoms. It was mid-April and the start of his busiest season. For years Charlie worked as a professional roofer, and in 2017 he started his own business, Jo Jo’s Roofing—the name inspired by his young son. “I was scheduled to start on a roof that weekend,” he says. But then, several symptoms of COVID-19 started kicking in, including sweating, chills, high fever and coughing. “I was having a hard time breathing,” Charlie recalls. “I felt really weak.” On Saturday, April 11, he drove to the Capital City Fire and Rescue testing center for a nasal swab test. Then he paid a visit to the graves of his father and grandfather, where he asked his ancestors for the strength and confidence to fight the virus. “I was crying, I was scared,” he says. “People didn’t survive. They were dying from it.” Never give up Charlie remembered what his grandfather told him when he was growing up: “He said there is no excuse to quit. To never give up on something you want to achieve. And it just stuck with me.” Monday, April 13, Charlie got notice that his test was positive. By then, his symptoms were much worse. “I had the runs, couldn’t keep food or even water down,” he recalls. His whole body was in pain. “When I cried there were no tears. I couldn’t taste anything. I couldn’t smell anything,” he says. He had shortness of breath, and was hyperventilating at the same time. “It felt like my rib cage and my lungs were in a vise, like I was just getting squeezed.” Charlie says he’d never felt sick like this in his life. He’d ridden out colds and cases of flu. But nothing compared to this. “Doesn’t even come close,” he asserts. Charlie collapsed at home. His wife called 911. An ambulance brought Charlie to the Bartlett Regional Hospital Emergency Department. “It hurt to cough, it hurt to sneeze, it hurt to cry. I was struggling to breathe on my own,” he says. Charlie was diagnosed with viral pneumonia in both lungs. A chest x-ray and lab work confirmed he had contracted a severe case of COVID-19. Charlie was admitted to the Critical Care Unit. At that point, Charlie was one of a handful of COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital since the start of the pandemic in March. Hospitalist Steve Greer, MD, was Charlie’s doctor during his stay. “He was really quite ill,” recalls Dr. Greer. “His kidneys and liver were affected. He was not able to get enough oxygen to his lungs.” Living the news “If this gentleman had come in March, he would have been put on a ventilator,” Dr. Greer says. “But we learned in the SHARING THANKS 6 House Calls Fall 2020