Update: Mental health challenges during the pandemic
Nearly two years ago, John Dickerson explored the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on families.
23-year-old Francesca Santacroce suddenly found herself parent to her teenage sister, and caregiver to their mother, an at-home dialysis patient with COVID, after her father was hospitalized and placed on a ventilator.
"I literally feel like I'm about to shatter in a million pieces right now," Santacroce told Dickerson. "But - I feel like one wrong move and I'm going to break. And I'm going to fall apart. But I know that I can't. I can't do that. Because I need to take care of my family right now."
Francesca's father died the day after our interview, but early this month, her mother received a kidney transplant. And in August, Francesca will enter medical school.
