In order to get a gage on how the medical world is coping with the coronavirus, I talked to cardiologist Dr. Farid Jalinous. Jalinous, who works at Goshen hospital in Goshen, Indiana, told me that the hospital is lacking protective wear for it’s doctors and nurses. Although he works primarily in a cardiology wing separate to the emergency room, he is in the hospital almost every day making rounds to see his patients, therefore being exposed to the virus. Since our last conversation two weeks ago, Jalinous has since told me that he has been exposed to the virus after seeing patients in the covid unit of the hospital. Because of his possible exposure to the virus, Jalinous is being quarantined away from his family near the hospital alongside other doctors who are also taking the same measures in order to protect their families from possible contamination. “It sucks, but it has to be done,” he said.

As Goshen Hospital deals with three cases of Covid-19, Jalinous is hoping they will acquire proper resources to combat the virus, including masks, gloves, ventilators, and testing kits. “We have very few tests, and it takes the ones that we have a long time for results,” he said.

When people such as Farid Jalinous and other medical professionals are risking their lives daily for the protection and well-being of humanity, they are hoping that, at the very least, they can have personal protective equipment and that the public listens to the appropriate professionals, such as the World Health Organization, in order to help stem the effects of this widespread virus.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.