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St. Louis American The
Serving, empowering and advocating equity in St. Louis since 1928
CAC Audited DEC. 31 – JAN. 6, 2021
stlamerican.com
Vol. 92 No. 40 COMPLIMENTARY
Caring for St. Louis
Urban League’s Michael P. McMillan is The St. Louis American’s 2020 Person of the Year St. Louis American Staff During the Urban League’s recent Christmas food distribution event, lines upon lines of masked and yellow-safety-vested volunteers stood ready to pile boxes full of food and personal protective equipment into the propped-open trunks of the cars snaking around the parking lot. This event came on the heels of 23 consecutive weeks of food n “It was Michael’s distribution the Urban League ran between amazing individual April and October effort in response of this year, giving to the ravages out food to “around 85,000 families,” of the COVID-19 according to Patricia pandemic that Washington, the made him the Urban League’s unanimous choice vice president of as the St. Louis communications. The man behind American’s 2020 this massive effort is Person of the Michael P. McMillan, Year.” president and CEO of the Urban League —Donald M. Suggs, of Metropolitan St. St. Louis American Louis. McMillan Publisher and raised close to $4 Executive Editor million dollars this year toward coronavirus relief, as well as mobilizing corporate and individual volunteers for the food distribution projects. “It was Michael’s amazing individual effort in response to the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic that made him the unanimous choice as the St. Louis American’s 2020 Person of the Year,” stated Donald M. Suggs, St. Louis American Publisher and Executive Editor. “His prompt organizing and mobilizing of the right people on his Urban League team and beyond into the larger civic community
See McMILLAN, A7
Lawrence Bryant for The St. Louis American
Barnes Jewish Hospital’s Dr. Ebony Carter on vaccines: “COVID-19 is nothing to mess with’
By Sylvester Brown Jr. Of The St. Louis American Driving home one early summer morning, Dr. Ebony Carter’s mind was consumed with fear: Should she go home and risk the safety of her husband and three small girls? Carter is a high-risk obstetrician at Barnes Jewish Hospital’s Women and Infants Center. Driving home that morning, she recalled the previous night when a pregnant woman came into the emergency room. Her entire team, which included interns and residents, helped deliver a Dr. Ebony breech baby. Carter Afterward, Carter learned that half the patients they had cared for that week, including the latest one, had tested positive for the coronavirus. “I was mortified for all of us,” Carter recalled. “We’d all worn masks the entire time, but not adequate PPE for that level of
Ignore social media’s unproven coronavirus at-home advice Doctor says pulse oximeter is good to have at home with COVID-19 patients
By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American
Matt Miller
Will Ross, MD, recently received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer/BioNTech. exposure. We were all there as she huffed and puffed and blew the baby out, while an invisible cloud of COVID rained over us.” Until Carter received results from her test,
she said she was super stressed. Due to the pandemic, her kids were home all day, mostly
See VACCINES, A6
There is some perhaps well-intended, but mostly inaccurate information being copied and pasted on social media about how to care for people who have the coronavirus and are experiencing symptoms while isolating at home. After reading a social media post titled, “How to Fight COVID at Home,” Dr. Shephali Wulff, sSMHealth System director of infectious disease, pointed out more than a few inconsistencies in the post, some of which could cause other medical issues. Wulff noted that SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, is a respiratory virus, and the care would be what is recommended for a person with
See OXIMETER, A6