By Fred Hagstrom
St. Paul, Minnesota: Strong Silent Type Press, 2021. Edition of 20 + 3 AP.
14.5 x 14.75"; 30 pages. Printed in relief from laser cut blocks Drum leaf binding. Numbered and signed by the artist on the colophon. Images and text reference documented on colophon. page.
Fred Hagstrom: "'I did this book as a tribute to the medical workers who have given so much, and suffered so much, during this pandemic. I interviewed nurses and also found text from videos that were available to the public."
Text quotes from COVID nurses:
If you’re already at the max level of support that you can give, and their oxygen levels are dropping, there is really not much you can do except just let the family know. And can you imagine holding up an iPad to somebody who is intubated, really sick, and hearing their family tell them goodbye? Absolutely heartbreaking. Tears are coming down your face. You’re human. This sucks.
For the first year and a half that I was there I didn’t have a single patient die on my shift. And then COVID happened, and it seemed like everybody was dying. It was just a lot of death. On top of that, everybody was isolated in general. All of your support systems you had set up for the stressful job you were going into weren’t there anymore.
$1,000