Take This Job and Love It

‘I’M HERE. LET’S GO.’

Bernard Robinson ’88 returned from COVID-19 to lead EMS operations for the health system that has treated the most coronavirus patients.

In late March, when the virus that causes COVID-19 was already spreading rapidly across New York City and the surrounding region, first responders in the health care community jumped quickly into the mix, underscoring their “front-line workers” moniker. On Long Island, Bernard Robinson ’88, who oversees daily operations for one of the largest EMS services on the East Coast, felt duty-bound to step away from the relative security of his office and return to the field alongside his EMT and paramedic colleagues.

“I would not ask my guys to go into something that I wouldn’t be willing to go into myself,” says Robinson, a regional director for Northwell Health’s Center for Emergency Medical Services.

During those early days of the outbreak, Robinson recalls, protocols and procedures were “changing literally by the hour, as far as what PPE was appropriate to wear and what wasn’t.” That ambiguity in guidance translated into a great deal of apprehension among his Northwell EMTs and medics. “They were anxious,” he says, “so the best way to calm them is to go out there with them, and show them, Hey guys, I’m here with you. Let’s go.”

Due in large part to the explosion of early cases in the area, Northwell Health has treated more COVID-19 patients than any other health system in the United States. Unfortunately, Robinson’s selfless urge to support his EMS team in the field soon saw him added to those numbers.

“I went back out on the road, responding to emergencies, going into emergency rooms, but still facilitating the operations in there,” he recalls. “They were completely overrun. Everyone was either on a ventilator or about to be put on one.”

The burgeoning number of COVID-19 cases, particularly in Queens – an early epicenter of infection – increased the danger for everyone involved.

“We had two emergency rooms that were completely overrun. One is not too far from my home, so I checked on that one first, and they were really bad,” he says, recalling what was just his second shift since returning to the field. “Then I went to the one in Queens, and that was like nothing I’d ever seen before.”

Later that week, Robinson began feeling achy not long after returning home.

“I knew something was up, so I immediately quarantined in the basement and told my wife, ‘I think this is it,’” he says. “It kind of progressed from there to where it was just bad – very bad.”

COVID-19 testing was still scarce in March, but as a frontline worker for a health system, Robinson was able to be tested just a few days after becoming symptomatic. Almost immediately after receiving his positive diagnosis, his condition deteriorated. He began to have trouble breathing, and a trip to the hospital determined that he also had a COVIDrelated case of double pneumonia. With beds filling up, Robinson was released to go home, where he had oxygen tanks to ease his respiration if needed. He consumed an astonishing seven tanks’ worth that night.

“My wife knew something wasn’t right,” Robinson says. “She called some of my friends – co-workers – and they said, ‘Yeah, we’re sending another ambulance.”

Robinson, who is active in his church, was concerned and even fearful. He sent a text message to his pastor and other friends in the clergy to inform them of his condition. He explained frankly that he was not sure what the outcome would be.

After being readmitted to the hospital, Robinson’s condition worsened. As with many lethal coronavirus infections, he struggled with the most fundamental physical tasks.

“I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t get up. I couldn’t move. The exhaustion, my energy being so low – it was crazy,” he recalls. Just to stand up, I’d have to sit back down for twenty minutes to get my breath back. And my oxygen levels went down to 82 percent,

which is very bad because it should be 95 to 100. Yeah, that was horrible – definitely horrible.”

During his hospitalization, Robinson had some time to reflect on his work, which he has done all his adult life. He began working as an EMT during college at the urging of his father, a retired EMS lieutenant.

“I said, ‘Sure, I’ll do it. I think it’s cool. I think girls will like it if I tell them this is what I do,’” he recalls of his professional origins.

“This is literally the reason I became an EMT, because I thought girls would think it was cool. And little could I have known, I ended up actually falling in love with the job.”

He began working with New York City EMS, which he calls “an incredible experience.”

“By the time I was 21, I had delivered babies, resuscitated people back from cardiac arrest, and treated multiple gunshots – all of those things,” Robinson says. “And when you’re that age, it’s like, What’s better than this?”

And even more than thirty years after graduating from Lawrenceville, the virtual camaraderie he shared with his classmates during his recovery cheered his spirits.

“One of the things that helped me get better was that during this time, the Class of ’88 was doing weekly Zoom meetings,” he says of their weekly gatherings online. “It kind of gave me something to look forward to. They helped me get through that as well, which is awesome.”

Robinson battled back, and exactly one month after testing positive, he was discharged on Easter morning. With his region still in the throes of the pandemic, he was eager to return to work and was back in his office a week later. Robinson admits now that although it might have been wise to wait, it’s simply not in his nature.

“I definitely could have stayed home a little longer than I did, but that’s just how I am,” he says. “I’ve always got to be back out.” After regaining his strength and stamina over a few weeks in the office, where he remained in uniform, Robinson returned to the field.

“I’m going to stay like this until everything’s over, until the all-clear is given – then I can go back to suits and meetings,” he insists. “But right now, this is the most important thing, being out there, and being on the front lines.”

Now fully recovered from a serious bout with COVID-19, Bernard Robinson ‘88 is again heading daily operations for one of the largest EMS services on the East Coast.

Photograph by Donnelly Marks