Heroes on the Front Lines: Sandy Welch
[/caption]UAW Local 95 member Sandy Welch is a five-year cancer survivor. She has high blood pressure, too.
That means her immune system is not 100%. But, while others in Wisconsin are told to stay home, she heads to work every day as a medical transcriptionist at a medical clinic in Janesville.
“I have a compromised immune system and sometimes I think about that, but I don’t let that take over my thoughts,” she said.
Welch, chair of the amalgamated local’s Unit 9, has been a UAW member for 20 years and has worked at the clinic the entire time. The unit represents about 165 members including nurses, pharmacy technicians, phlebotomists, health care transcriptionists, assistants and receptionists.
Normally, four transcriptionists and a host of doctors at the clinic see about 500 patients a day. Wisconsin’s Covid-19 order encouraging residents to stay home has reduced traffic at the clinic to about 90 patients a day seeking only essential medical care. Welch is the sole transcriptionist at the clinic now.“I’m not on the front lines like others,” said Welch. “But I do get a little nervous. You have to get up and do what you have to do every day whether you are scared or not. You have to do what you are called to do.”
For others on the front lines, Welch is keeping them in mind.
Normally, four transcriptionists and a host of doctors at the clinic see about 500 patients a day. Wisconsin’s COVID-19 order encouraging residents to stay home has reduced traffic at the clinic to about 90 patients a day seeking only essential medical care. Welch is the sole transcriptionist at the clinic now.