Coronavirus in the Delta

Greenwood Leflore Hospital sits on the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta. It serves the city of Greenwood and its surrounding rural areas. Though it's not a large facility — with 208 beds and just two ICU doctors — Greenwood Leflore receives patients from even smaller hospitals that don't have units for intensive care.

As the pandemic entered the Delta, the doctors and nurses at Greenwood Leflore set up a 16-bed ICU just for Covid-19 patients and hoped for the best. Nurse Briauna Elam sent her daughter, Kayley, to live with her mother to avoid exposing Kayley to the virus. Dr. Rachael Faught spent all day at the hospital, and sometimes all night. As patients' lungs gave out, Dr. Faught had them sedated and placed them on ventilators. Nurse Elam monitored the ventilated patients and talked to them, even though they couldn't respond. Despite their efforts, the case count climbed and so did the number of deaths.

One day in late March, their friend and colleague Dorothy Boles showed up in the emergency room at the hospital where she'd been a nurse for 42 years. She couldn't breathe.

The front line

At the start of the pandemic, Greenwood Leflore Hospital set up a 16-bed intensive care unit for Covid-19 patients.

Ben Depp for APM Reports

The fallen

Dorothy Boles, 68, became one of the first Covid-related deaths at Greenwood Leflore Hospital, where she'd been a nurse for 42 years.

Funeral announcement courtesy of Spencer Banks

The colleague

Dr. John Lucas, a surgeon at Greenwood Leflore Hospital, visited Boles as soon as he heard she'd arrived sick at the hospital where they had worked together for decades.

Ben Depp for APM Reports

The epicenter

Greenwood Leflore serves both locals and patients sent from smaller regional hospitals that lack intensive care units.

Ben Depp for APM Reports