Dolly Larios is a first year medical resident in Boston.

I switched through different services.

My most recent service was in the ICU.

When she says ICU, she means the COVID ICU.

And while you might think about being in that type of environment, day in, day out, as

pretty brutal, Dolly thinks about it a little differently.

It may sound cheesy and it may sound silly, but I love, love, love being a doctor.

You know, I consider myself incredibly lucky that I am one of the few providers in her hospital

who is bilingual and can speak Spanish as well as English.

You've probably heard about how this coronavirus is impacting communities of color,

that black and brown people are more likely to die from an infection.

Dolly, she's seen that impact firsthand.

How, what proportion of patients in the ICU are Spanish speaking?

When I was on service, which was just a week ago, I would say about 80%, which is much,

much higher than we have seen at any point before.

And how many of the doctors were Spanish speaking?

I can speak for the night team, which is the team that I was on.

On that team in particular, I was the only physician who spoke Spanish.

Dolly's hospital has translators and fancy iPads, so doctors can understand

whatever a patient's saying, but nothing can replace communicating with your actual doctor.

Sometimes, Dolly is able to offer simple comfort and familiarity.

Sometimes, speaking Spanish means she can get a patient healthier faster.

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