Ernesto Rolon III was a mama's boy, and everybody knew it. Every Mother's Day, he wore a T-shirt he bought himself that read "Mom's Favorite".
Rolon always made time for Friday night hangouts with his family, despite working three jobs: in addition to checking patients in at the hospital, he was also an eligibility specialist for housing at a homeless shelter and pulled shifts as a massage therapist. He was saving up for an apartment.
"A lot of people praise their kids, but I'm doing it with reason," said his father, Ernesto Rolon II. "I believe he is an angel."
Rolon, who had lupus, went to an urgent care clinic with trouble breathing on 13 March and was diagnosed with bronchitis. A co-worker had told Rolon they had bronchitis that week, family said. But by 17 March, Rolon was in the emergency room, diagnosed with Covid-19. He died in the hospital 10 days later.
New York-Presbyterian did not respond to requests for comment on the possibility that Rolon may have been infected at work, but said they mourned the loss of healthcare workers who serve the community.
Rolon was generous with the practical things, like providing rides or making calls. One Thanksgiving, he delivered over $300 worth of groceries to a single mother in his parents' apartment building. After he died, the family received calls from strangers saying how kind Rolon was – even from his dentist.
"I prayed to him," sister Amy Rolon said. "I said, if I could be half the person that you were in my lifetime, then I did exactly what I was supposed to do."
— Theresa Gaffney, City University of New York
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2020/aug/11/lost-on-the-frontline-covid-19-coronavirus-us-healthcare-workers-deaths-database
Rolon always made time for Friday night hangouts with his family, despite working three jobs: in addition to checking patients in at the hospital, he was also an eligibility specialist for housing at a homeless shelter and pulled shifts as a massage therapist. He was saving up for an apartment.
"A lot of people praise their kids, but I'm doing it with reason," said his father, Ernesto Rolon II. "I believe he is an angel."
Rolon, who had lupus, went to an urgent care clinic with trouble breathing on 13 March and was diagnosed with bronchitis. A co-worker had told Rolon they had bronchitis that week, family said. But by 17 March, Rolon was in the emergency room, diagnosed with Covid-19. He died in the hospital 10 days later.
New York-Presbyterian did not respond to requests for comment on the possibility that Rolon may have been infected at work, but said they mourned the loss of healthcare workers who serve the community.
Rolon was generous with the practical things, like providing rides or making calls. One Thanksgiving, he delivered over $300 worth of groceries to a single mother in his parents' apartment building. After he died, the family received calls from strangers saying how kind Rolon was – even from his dentist.
"I prayed to him," sister Amy Rolon said. "I said, if I could be half the person that you were in my lifetime, then I did exactly what I was supposed to do."
— Theresa Gaffney, City University of New York
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2020/aug/11/lost-on-the-frontline-covid-19-coronavirus-us-healthcare-workers-deaths-database
Ernesto Rolon III was a mama's boy, and everybody knew it. Every Mother's Day, he wore a T-shirt he bought himself that read "Mom's Favorite".
Rolon always made time for Friday night hangouts with his family, despite working three jobs: in addition to checking patients in at the hospital, he was also an eligibility specialist for housing at a homeless shelter and pulled shifts as a massage therapist. He was saving up for an apartment.
"A lot of people praise their kids, but I'm doing it with reason," said his father, Ernesto Rolon II. "I believe he is an angel."
Rolon, who had lupus, went to an urgent care clinic with trouble breathing on 13 March and was diagnosed with bronchitis. A co-worker had told Rolon they had bronchitis that week, family said. But by 17 March, Rolon was in the emergency room, diagnosed with Covid-19. He died in the hospital 10 days later.
New York-Presbyterian did not respond to requests for comment on the possibility that Rolon may have been infected at work, but said they mourned the loss of healthcare workers who serve the community.
Rolon was generous with the practical things, like providing rides or making calls. One Thanksgiving, he delivered over $300 worth of groceries to a single mother in his parents' apartment building. After he died, the family received calls from strangers saying how kind Rolon was – even from his dentist.
"I prayed to him," sister Amy Rolon said. "I said, if I could be half the person that you were in my lifetime, then I did exactly what I was supposed to do."
— Theresa Gaffney, City University of New York
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2020/aug/11/lost-on-the-frontline-covid-19-coronavirus-us-healthcare-workers-deaths-database
Rolon always made time for Friday night hangouts with his family, despite working three jobs: in addition to checking patients in at the hospital, he was also an eligibility specialist for housing at a homeless shelter and pulled shifts as a massage therapist. He was saving up for an apartment.
"A lot of people praise their kids, but I'm doing it with reason," said his father, Ernesto Rolon II. "I believe he is an angel."
Rolon, who had lupus, went to an urgent care clinic with trouble breathing on 13 March and was diagnosed with bronchitis. A co-worker had told Rolon they had bronchitis that week, family said. But by 17 March, Rolon was in the emergency room, diagnosed with Covid-19. He died in the hospital 10 days later.
New York-Presbyterian did not respond to requests for comment on the possibility that Rolon may have been infected at work, but said they mourned the loss of healthcare workers who serve the community.
Rolon was generous with the practical things, like providing rides or making calls. One Thanksgiving, he delivered over $300 worth of groceries to a single mother in his parents' apartment building. After he died, the family received calls from strangers saying how kind Rolon was – even from his dentist.
"I prayed to him," sister Amy Rolon said. "I said, if I could be half the person that you were in my lifetime, then I did exactly what I was supposed to do."
— Theresa Gaffney, City University of New York
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2020/aug/11/lost-on-the-frontline-covid-19-coronavirus-us-healthcare-workers-deaths-database
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