INDIANAPOLIS — A photo of an emotional health care worker at Riley Hospital for Children is going viral.
Adam B. Hill, M.D., tweeted a photo Tuesday, Aug. 17 of tears falling down his face and said, "Hi. I’m a healthcare worker crying at the hospital. It’s important to show more of this."
Actress Ellen Pompeo, known for her role as Dr. Meredith Grey in "Grey's Anatomy," shared the photo on her Twitter with the caption, "Heartbreaking."
As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, Hill's tweet has been retweeted more than 5,000 times and has more than 47,000 likes.
According to Riley, Hill is the palliative care director and also specializes in pediatric hematology-oncology.
As the delta variant surges across the country, pediatricians are seeing a flood of children enter the ER.
Doctors at Riley have noticed the increase in patients within the last month.
“If you look at the numbers we had over the last few days, they’re much higher than what we would’ve seen during two or three weeks back in January,” said Dr. John Christenson, pediatric infectious disease specialist at Riley.
Earlier this month, the team at Riley told 13News it treated at least 36 children with COVID-19 in just a few days. The majority of them were under 12 and not eligible for the shot.
Even though many of the cases were not severe, doctors warn they can be.
“Some children are very sick and have to be hospitalized, and some have to go to an intensive care unit. Sadly, when you look at our numbers nationwide, children have died from coronavirus,” Christenson said.
If you or someone you know needs help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255). You can also text a crisis counselor by messaging the Crisis Text Line at 741741.
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