Good morning and welcome to the TimesOC newsletter. It’s Wednesday, Feb. 17.
We tend to celebrate the big medical achievements in the battle against COVID-19: vaccines, improved testing, better treatment protocols.
But sometimes victory is measured in smaller, more personal moments.
Take patient Joe Trejo, who has been on a ventilator for 10 days at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton. He’s unable to communicate with his wife, Patty, and their three sons.
“But on Monday, as a mariachi band played the couple’s favorite song in the parking lot and beamed it to them in the ICU via a smartphone,” write Kim Christiansen and Ifran Khan. “Joe responded if ever so subtly.”