Art curator Susannah Perlman, who lost her mother to COVID-19, created the Hero Art Project on the National Mall to eternalize the smiles of other health care workers lost to the pandemic.
Prayers flooded Facebook earlier this month after word spread that a beloved local doctor was hospitalized in San Antonio with COVID-19.
But on Dec. 19, Dr. Anand Mehendale succumbed to the coronavirus, leaving behind many former students, colleagues, friends, family and patients â some of whose lives heâd saved over the years.Â
âDoc was many things to many people,â said Jo Carol Smith, who got to know Mehendale while attending an end-of-life symposium. âHe was gifted with intelligence, warmth, compassion and wit. He did so much for the community and cared deeply for those he served.â
Mehendale obtained his medical license in 1982 and was board certified in neurology and addiction medicine. He worked for Peterson Health and in private practice.Â