Powerful photo shows two married nurses gazing into each other’s eyes as they work side-by-side treating COVID-19 patients in Florida hospital
- Mindy Brock and Ben Cayer both work at Tampa General Hospital where they intubate patients – many of whom have COVID-19
- The couple, who met in nursing school in 2007, have volunteered to serve in the hospital’s new ‘airway team’, which has been set up amid the coronavirus crisis
- Despite the risks and the pressures of the job, the pair say they are lucky to have one another to lean on
- Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
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A photograph showing two married nurses gazing into each other’s eyes from behind protective face shields is being shared around the world as a symbol of love amid the coronavirus pandemic.
A colleague captured Mindy Brock, 38, and her husband Ben Cayer, 46, locked in a lover’s embrace while on the job at Florida’s Tampa General Hospital on March 30.
The striking snap shows the couple clad in gloves and gowns as they tenderly hold each other’s masked faces which are protected behind the plastic shields.
‘Everybody’s talking about the photo,’ Cayer told The Associated Press Wednesday.
A striking photograph showing married nurses Mindy Brock (left) and Ben Cayer (right) gazing into one another’s eyes from behind their protective face shields is being shared around the world amid the coronavirus pandemic
‘It strikes a chord because we´re all going through the same thing right now and it´s a symbol of hope and love.’
Brock and Cayer are both nurse anesthetists who intubate patients – many of whom have COVID-19. They couple are part of Tampa General’s new ‘airway team’ and risk exposing themselves to the virus.
Placing a tube into a patient´s mouth and down into their airway requires close contact – and because the virus spreads in droplets, they are required to wear the highest level of protective gear.
The couple met in nurse anesthesia school in 2007, and married five years ago.
The couple met in nurse anesthesia school in 2007 and have been inseparable ever since
While their famous photo shows their unyielding love for one another amid the traumas of the current pandemic, Brock told Associated Press they pair had actually been arguing the morning the image was captured.
They disagreed about what to play on the car radio, and who was doing the dishes at home. Additionally, it was Brock’s first day on the new ‘airway team’, and the new COVID-19 procedures were making them tense.
But after they found themselves in the same room, all the tension melted away.
‘All those trivial things that we were arguing about that morning, in the grand scheme of things, aren´t that important,’ Brock stated.
Brock and Cayer are pictured on their wedding day in April 2015. The pair were wed in Charleston, South Carolina
Thus far, the couple has managed to avoid contracting COVID-19, although it has come close to home. Brock´s mother has tested positive to the virus, and co-workers fear catching it.
But despite the stresses of the job, the pair say they feel lucky to be going through the crisis together.
‘We have grown men bawling because none of their family can be there with them,’ Brock stated.
She added: ‘It helps to be married to another nurse, because unless you´re here doing this, there´s no way to describe it, He gets it.’