Pandemic stories: Meet doctor, podcaster and mom Neda Frayha
Neda Frayha, on a mission to humanize medicine through education and storytelling
This is the second in a series of interviews I’m doing to elevate the stories of women during this pandemic. Today, hear from Neda Frayha (@nedafrayha), who’s on a mission to humanize medicine through education and storytelling, which she does as a physician and podcaster. Neda is also mother to an 8-year-old boy, and she lives outside Baltimore in Ellicott City, Maryland. We connected via email about how she’s managing to see patients (in person and via telemedicine), produce a podcast, and raise a child, all while navigating the same anxious mind that so many of us experience these days.
Help us see your world: Paint a picture of a recent day in your life.
Most days are a mix of working two jobs from home while watching my 8-year-old son. On one of my most chaotic days, I had back-to-back meetings, telemedicine visits with patients, and podcast recordings, all while trying to make sure my son was logging into his virtual class meet-ups. Not every day is quite that hectic, but I do feel like my ability to concentrate or achieve any kind of flow in my work is suffering right now. Some days I go into my clinic and see patients face-to-face, which is a wonderfully familiar feeling.
As a doctor, what's something you've learned or observed about covid that you don't think enough people understand?
The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes covid is a wily, unpredictable virus. It can cause so many symptoms, from something as mild as losing your sense of smell to something as severe as lung and kidney failure. And it's hard to predict who will have which symptoms, and who will recover quickly or not. I've had young, healthy patients experience debilitating fatigue and shortness of breath for months after their diagnosis, to the point where they can't work. An avid runner now can't walk their dog because of how hard it is to breathe. I wish everyone could see some of these long-lasting effects. And this is in the patients who survive. The number of people who have died is a whole other conversation.
Can you share what's going on in your mind about the school year starting soon? What will "back to school" look like in your home?
My mind is a frenzied, anxious place these days! Our school system will be all virtual through at least the end of January. On the one hand, it's so deeply sad. On the other, it's a bit of a relief. I was terrified about how quickly things would go badly if all the kids returned to school in person, especially without a strong public health infrastructure in place to quickly and effectively deal with the inevitable outbreaks. It's an impossible situation, for so many families. It's especially untenable for working families without job flexibility or paid leave or child care or a reliable WiFi connection. The list goes on. This pandemic has thrown our lack of structural support for working families into stark relief.
Given your storytelling expertise, I wonder, who do you think is doing a good job telling the human stories of this pandemic? And what stories do you wish were being captured in a better way?
The Washington Post's Post Reports podcast had a fantastic episode on the surge of sick covid patients in Houston. It painted the clearest, most visceral picture of what life is like for health care workers and the patients they care for in this pandemic. A wonderful podcast called The Nocturnists did a series called Stories from a Pandemic, featuring dozens of health care workers' personal stories. It was powerful and moving. And I still think about Dr. Fabiano Di Marco's words — and his voice as it trembled and then regained strength - in this episode of The Daily. When it first aired in March, I thought, please, let the U.S. experience with covid be so much gentler than what Italy had to go through. Now that thought feels very sad and naive.
Who is someone who is navigating this pandemic in a way you admire, and why?
My dear friend Dr. Rana Awdish is doing amazing work. She's a pulmonary and critical care doctor in Detroit, a true front-line worker, and she manages to use all her spare time to nurture others — nurses and doctors and respiratory therapists throughout her hospital, teachers in her local school community. She's finding innovative ways to engage her 9-year-old son's creativity and intellect while he's home. And she's writing beautiful accounts of what this time is like as a healer and caregiver. Some days, it takes all my energy just to make myself a cup of coffee in the morning! But friends like Rana remind me that it's always possible to put more goodness out into the world.
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