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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's Friday, which is when we hear from StoryCorps. Chris Heiser is a career paramedic. He's 74 years old. His daughter, Danielle, is a nurse. They were both first responders when the pandemic began, but they never spoke with each other about their experience until they sat down for this StoryCorps conversation.
CHRIS HEISER: I remember when one of the first identified COVID patients was sent to your ER, and you were that individual's nurse.
DANIELLE HEISER: I was about two years into being an ER nurse, so kind of just getting the confidence, the hang of things. And I remember coming off of a 12-hour shift in the emergency department, calling you and being like, I'm terrified. I'm freaked out. Can I keep doing this?
C HEISER: It's a unique position to be put in because I know what it's like to be there, but you're the most important thing in my life. I had to recognize that my responsibility was to push you back into that environment - as opposed to saying, quit, stay home, be safe, to basically say, risk your own life to go in and take care of people you don't know in an environment that no one's ever seen before. It was both uncomfortable and frighteningly proud.
D HEISER: I will also turn that back on you, Dad, because you had every opportunity to retire. You're rolling your eyes 'cause I keep saying how old you are.
C HEISER: Yes.
D HEISER: You have an extremely decorated medical career. You easily could have said, hey, I have helped a lot of people. I'm done.
C HEISER: When COVID first kicked off, the city came out and said, anyone over 65, go home. But I've never walked away from any event - as a Green Beret, flight medic on a helicopter, tactical medic, firefighter. And so I called my boss and said, I'm not going home. And he said, well, let's just not tell anybody, and you can stay. This is our chosen profession.
D HEISER: Being on the front line during COVID is absolutely something I'm the most proud of in my entire career. But I'm glad we're on the other side now.
C HEISER: So am I.
D HEISER: If I don't tell you enough, I am so proud to be your daughter, and it's OK to retire now.
C HEISER: And I am so proud of you (laughter) for everything you have been and will be. And maybe I'll retire - sometime.
D HEISER: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
D HEISER: Deal.
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INSKEEP: Oh, man. Danielle Heiser is still a nurse, though no longer in the ER, and her dad, Chris, still has not retired. Their conversation is archived at the Library of Congress.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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