Inside STAT: A nurse records videos she hopes her family won't need to watch

(MOLLY FERGUSON FOR STAT)

“Once upon a time,” Elise Barrett begins, “there was a little boy named Kepler.” Barrett is a nurse supervisor at a cancer clinic in Seattle, and these words are how she starts her new ritual of recording for her 2-year-old son, Kepler, a story about him going on adventures in the forest. As she's seen news of Covid-19 pick up in intensity, Barrett has taken to recording another version of the stories she has already read to Kepler at bedtime, meant to serve as a backup in case her work keeps her away from putting him to sleep. But the grueling reality of being a health care worker in the fight against Covid-19 means that Barrett has also taken to recording other, more serious videos — about what she wants in case she falls sick and is on a ventilator, and videos for when Kepler's a little older and if she's not around to explain what happened. STAT's Eric Boodman has more here.