Doctors rock playing concert for Central DuPage Hospital staff
The band “Vital Signs” has all the appeal of rock stars, and in a certain sense, its musicians are.
There's no showboating with the vocalists, but that's not to say they can't hype up a crowd. When the band took the stage for a feel-good concert Friday, fans cheered from a parking garage and brought their dance moves to a courtyard lawn.
In another time, the group wouldn't look like rockers. On stage and off, they wear scrubs and masks.
“We don't have to be asked twice to play,” says Dr. Anthony Altimari, a guitarist.
With the backdrop of a sign proclaiming “Health Care Workers Rock!” physicians at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield provided a momentary release for an audience dealing with life and death, fear and pain and everything else that comes with a pandemic.
“We're doing the best we can, and I think once this is done, this will truly be the hardest thing we've ever done as caregivers,” Dr. Jeffrey Huml said.
As caregivers, they know music can be healing. So Huml strapped on his guitar with his colleagues for a concert to thank hospital employees who show up every day when it's safer to stay home.
That alone deserves recognition. But Huml and Altimari find constant inspiration from co-workers going above and beyond.
“What can I do to help? Do you want me to empty a bedpan? Do you want me to change some sheets? Do you want me to hold someone's hand as they're dying? Those are things that people do without question,” Altimari said.
He's a general surgeon, and the operating room nurses he works with have helped take care of COVID-19 patients on ventilators to relieve the bedside nurses.
“It doesn't stop there. Doctors and nurses are doing phenomenal work,” Altimari said. “We all trained for this. It's kind of like, bring it on. We want to take care of these people.”
Huml is the medical director of critical and neurocritical care for Northwestern Medicine's west region. As of Friday, 14 ICU patients with the virus are on life support.
But on a positive note, several patients have improved enough for doctors to take them off life support and move them out of ICU units, Huml said. Some have actually been discharged home.
“We have a whole intensive care unit dedicated to COVID patients, and that's filled right now, and we have overflowed into other units,” he said.
As health officials expect a coronavirus surge in the coming days and weeks, Altimari wanted to provide a morale boost. He spoke to some of the nursing leaders in his role as president of the medical staff, and one of them said “give us a concert.”
Founded more than 20 years ago, Altimari's band, Vital Signs, is a staple on the suburban festival circuit, covering artists from all kinds of genres: Lizzo, REO Speedwagon, the Stones.
But Altimari wanted an uplifting set for Friday's show in the hospital courtyard. Other doctors jumped at the opportunity to perform with Altimari's bandmates while standing six feet apart.
Without a chance to practice during the health crisis, the physicians still hit all the right notes. Dr. Kiumars Moghadam gave a rousing take on Vance Joy's “Riptide.” Huml brought island escapism with covers of Jimmy Buffet's “Margaritaville” and Garth Brooks' “Two Piña Coladas.” Dr. Michelle Montpetit, a cardiologist, approached the mic with a rendition of “Amazing Grace.”
“Once we're over this, we would like to do it again,” Altimari said.
After the concert, the medical staff provided lunch for hospital employees. And then the band and the audience got back to work.