A phone call, a song: Small gestures soothe COVID-19 stress

A phone call sounds like such a small thing. But the sedated man in a Missouri hospital room was gravely ill with COVID-19, and nurses arranged for his family to wish him well, perhaps for the last time.

In another hospital, a guitar-playing nurse sings ‘’Amazing Grace” outside patients’ rooms. And in another, doctors show smiling photos of themselves so COVID-19 patients can see the faces behind the masks.

In a time of anxiety and isolation, simple acts of kindness from medical workers are giving comfort and hope to patients and their families.