Month: May 2021

 

HOST INTRO (Recorded): As New York City public high schools plan to reopen on March 22nd, school medical administrators face hurdles as they attempt to safely restart. Jonathan Wong spoke with a Health Service Administrator of Long Island City High School of Queens as they prepare to roll out procedures from the pandemic restrictions.

AMBI: People standing outside of Long Island City High entrance building talking the entrance of the building

TRACK: I have got a hold of Connie Dominguez over the phone, just after dinner one evening, to discuss her experiences during this reopening phase.

ACT: CONNIE: When we go back to school on Tuesday, this Tuesday coming, we have health and hospital, which is part of the CDC, they are sending a team of lab technicians to our school and we will be covid testing those three days.

TRACK: She mentioned the overall schedule breakdown of the week.

ACT: CONNIE: “There’s twenty-two hundred students in our building, in our school, educating five days a week. Out of those students, thirteen hundred finalized their position as remote. So, we have about close to 800 students coming into the building as a blended student. And when they say blended, meaning, they only come in once a week, so for example, if their schedule, if their last names ending with a A through G they will be coming in, Tuesday, and then the letter between H and so forth through Wednesday then Thursdays. So technically they will be coming into the building three times a week. Monday would be remote days for all, and Fridays we call it “Bulldog” Friday and that day will be remote as well, so any students that do come into the building will be coming in three days a week and that’s one time a week.

TRACK: She says that vaccines are required to gain access into the buildings.

ACT: CONNIE: If they need to get vaccines, they have the option of using the school clinic or they have the option of using their primary care physicians.

TRACK: Like some other high schools, this clinic would step in to offer a way to make an appointment for a vaccination. For some who struggle getting one due to the sheer volume of people seeking vaccines in other facilities, this is a way in getting one.

ACT: CONNIE: Students who have neglected to go and get their vaccines throughout the pandemic, because they feel whether the doctor did not have time or they just they have so many cases and patients and trying not to put too many people in one visit in the facility. So, they space out their appointments and so it is hard for a lot of students who need vaccines to get appointments with their doctors. So, this is where we come in, and we tell them, you can do it with the school clinic, they would have to fill out an application and technically once they fill and out and get approval from the parent, they can come into the school and get their vaccine, the required vaccines.

TRACK: Since the school system is state-funded, she mentions that these services are offered to anyone including families in financial hardship.

ACT: CONNIE: It is offered by the state for free. There’s no charge for any student in our school, as long as their attending our school, all their physicals, vaccines, and other services are free.

TRACK: Class structures are laid out in order to conduct learning in a safe way but can easily feel overwhelming.

ACT: CONNIE: It’s not just let, ok everybody come back on Tuesday I mean there’s just so much and I’m just talking about the teachers. Where are they teaching at? What classes are going to be zoom classes, what classes are gonna be blended. Are ya gonna put the remote and the blended in one class? Will you have a live class streaming at the same time as a blended class. There’s a lot going on.

TRACK: With virtual learning, students in certain classes run into the lack of paying attention, and it’s required to be supervised by District Superintendents. They are responsible overall management of the schools and enforcing policies including evaluating principals.

ACT: CONNIE: Certain classes must be supervised by a superintendent of the district to make sure it’s going, usually, a class is about 40 minutes and out of those 40 minutes, 20 minutes has to be continuous learning. Ya know just, the teacher had to have control of the class. And this is high school, you understand high school, it’s a little tricky, it’s not like junior high or elementary school where you have the upper hand. High school it’s a little bit different, you get the challenge with the student, they tend to challenge you a lot of these students are angry or upset. There’s a lot going on in the background behind closed doors that we don’t know of.

TRACK: Many staff members tolerate rebelling students who are believed to be going through problems that are not obvious. Long Island City High School is one 488 planning for re-opening phases next week. This is Jonathan Wong for Baruch.

I was going to watch this film late at night, but as soon as I started and saw that it’s filmed in the ICU, I decided to leave it for the daytime because I know that if I watch it at night, I won’t sleep the whole night. I have always wanted to be a doctor and especially an ICU physician; however, after watching this documentary, I’m thrilled that I didn’t go to medical school. I know I can’t ever make decisions about other’s lives.

Although the patients and their families are in the most challenging and painful moments of their lives, I believe the physicians are in a much worse situation. The pain that each family suffers through a certain period these doctors suffer throughout their lives. Further, Dr. Jessica Zitter’s task of helping families make end-of-life decisions on their loved ones is harder for her than for them. The conclusion that these families take is based on the information she tells them, so in a way, she is responsible for the decision that’s going to be taken. One of the most painful moment for on was when Selena’s daughter was talking to dr. Zitter about doctor’s knowledge thinking they can create miracles to save her mother. I felt the pressure that these doctors face is unimaginable. I feel the pain that these families sufferers, but I believe it was more painful for the doctors.

Watching this documentary during a pandemic that causes millions of people to go on ventilator machines made me think of the pain these people and physicians suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic. I honestly can’t be more grateful for these heroes than I’m now.

 

I had a hard time watching this short documentary, to say the least. Growing up, one of my biggest fears was experiencing death and also seeing a loved one die. Extremis was not an easy watch for me because I was reminded of why I am so afraid of death, but I will say that I was also reminded of the strength and power that comes with a family’s love in watching the documentary. That aspect made it bearable to watch because it was showed a glimmer of hope that if one is surrounded by loved ones, crossing over doesn’t seem too bad. Ethically speaking, I don’t know if I would’ve been able to make a documentary like this because I would always feel like I was intruding in a situation in which should be left for those affected to take part, but Dan Krauss did a good job in explaining that he knew when moments felt sacred and shouldn’t be filmed. It comforts me knowing that the director knew when to be respectful considering the heavy nature of being in an ICU.

The film itself was very well shot and directed. I believe that all of the scenes that were filmed were necessary and played into the gravity of the matter at hand. I especially really liked the scene where the doctor was speaking with Selena’s brothers. With Selena’s brothers being very faithful and dependent on a miracle to happen, it showed the intersectionality between faith and science. I also really liked that one transition shot in which the cameraman was recording one of the machines and then focused on the reflection it cast of a patient’s loved one. That one in particular really hit me because of the symbolism.

Although the documentary was hard for me to watch, it did not take away from how beautifully this documentary was shot and directed. Tackling complex issues like this is a very necessary part of journalism.

I first want to start by saying that this is an amazing film. I watched Extremis, without searching anything up or reading anything about it because I wanted the full experience. Believe it or not, this was a hard watch for me and caused many tears to fall. I have watched many of my loved ones leave this earth, as well as watching my mother go through a long battle with cancer. I know death is inevitable, and miracles could very much happen and this film just brings it all. Watching these families, and patients go through so much pain and eventually having to make a decision that might not end well is really the focus of the film. I have always believed that being a doctor has to be one of the hardest jobs on the planet. For example, in the film, the doctor has all this expertise, this gift that she has perfected through her life, and yet all she can do is watch, as a life that she wishes she can save, just fades away slowly. And for that, I give many doctors and specialists props, because not only is it hard on the families, but it can take a toll on them too. To the two ladies that passed, it is important to say that they are in a better place now, without any suffering.

I think the cinematography is just incredible. Dan Krauss truly invokes his message, and every scene is filmed to perfection. The closeups on the family and the patients as they talk, the scenes of doctors explaining to the family the next approach, and more are truly what makes this film very good. The many angles showing the frustration of the doctors, as they discuss that there is nothing to be done. I think what truly broke me were the scenes of families coming together and praying, crying, and showing their love for the patient. Overall, this film really gets you in the feels, and I recommend everyone to watch it because it’s truly a masterpiece.

The films gave me some scary thoughts. I know we were all going to end up dead, whether if it’s under the ground or ashes in the ocean, it doesn’t matter much. However, what scares me was not the death being presented. It is the idea of seeing other people’s loved ones hanging onto life with tubes and machines. My grandma said if she was going to be like that and suffer, she might as well choose death. The film makes me appreciate the doctor and nurses even more. They face life and death every day that sometimes walking into an emergency room with an injured finger doesn’t seem like much of an issue anymore.

Other than the sad and emotional topic, I noticed how the camera has been shakey for the first few scenes and throughout. At times like these, the shakey camera actually adds to the entire film experience rather than taking away from it. The shaking of the camera promotes and increases the sense of nervousness in the audience. I had to stop and speed up the video when the doctor and family members talk about the patient because I couldn’t bear to watch. In addition to that, I noticed how personal close up of family members and doctors use the rule of thirds. Overall, the film is very hard to watch yet spoke the facts of life and death.

The first scenes of the film were very intriguing to me to know what the perhaps of this film was. But after watching the intro of the film I decided to search up the definition of “extremis” in order to get a hint as to what this film will be about. The definition is a latin phrase for “in the farthest reaches” or “at the point of death.” Which then explained what this film will be showing. Watching the individuals stories were a bit confusing because the reason as to why they were on life support was unknown. The way the story was told was interesting because the film makers focused on the doctors talking about the decision keeping a patient on life support or not, this showed that the doctors are greatly affected by the decision. They are affected by not knowing when it is the right time to remove life support on a patient as well as not knowing whether the patient will be able to breath by themselves. Overall the film was eye opening to me because it gives me motive to talk to my loves ones about these decisions in advance to prevent my love ones to be stuck with this hard decision. It is an impacting film and well directed as well.

The very start of the film is a bit heartbreaking and then the clips following it overwhelmed me. Even though it is a short film, the topic Extremis discusses is a heavy one. Death is not easy for people to accept or face and watching multiple families deal with it brought more awareness to that difficult situation. It is one thing knowing that a hospital deals with death on a daily basis and another thing to see how tragic and painful those moments truly are. The ethics involved in making life-or-death decisions are heavily prevalent in the film. Watching the doctors discuss what to do for the patient when the patient couldn’t make that decision felt wrong, yet necessary. Watching the families make that decision was even tougher to see because you could see how much that decision weighed on their shoulders. While watching, I was constantly thinking about how difficult it would be to produce a film like this. It almost seemed like I was intruding on these families’ precious moments, but it does seem like the producers did know when not to film. I did also notice a few shaky camera scenes, but it did not take anything away from the story. Watching this during a pandemic was hard, but very eye-opening.

When I started to watch the short documentary, the impact of the story hit me right away. I had to pause the video a couple of times to debrief because topics like these always get to me. The documentary did the storytelling very well and nothing felt out of place. I felt like almost part of the family because the close-up shots made it feel like I was in the room with them, which affected me the most. The medical ethics behind it was challenging because one doesn’t know when the right time is to take someone off of a breathing machine. The journalism ethics, however, I think, were followed well enough. I’m glad that this particular film didn’t film the passing of the patients because I know it’s been done in other videos. Overall, one of the moments that most stuck with me was the discussions that the doctors and staff had with each other and showing how it’s emotionally affecting them too. It makes me have more respect than what I already had for them because they often have to face situations like these. It made me think that sometimes the quality of life outweighs the quantity of life.