Even in non-pandemic times, receiving medical care is often a lonely, confusing process. Now, care often means severing our connections to the outside world. To heal, we cut ourselves off from those we love. But without them, how do we heal?

I wrote an essay for Oregon Humanities about the tensions between community and isolation in medical settings. Inspired by my own son’s illness, I wanted to understand how we rely on our social networks to sustain us in crisis — especially when COVID, cancer, or other conditions require us to isolate for our own safety.

Read the story here, alongside many other beautiful stories in this issue, entitled Care.