Table of Contents ‘Why Do I Put My Life on the Line?’ Pandemic Trauma Haunts Health Workers. Dr. Brittany Bankhead-Kendall scrubs her arms and hands at Texas Tech University Medical Center. Nationwide, doctors and other health professionals have been called on to work double duty during the pandemic. Courtesy of Dr. Bankhead-Kendall Brittany Bankhead-Kendall, 34, was a newly minted surgeon when the COVID-19 pandemic began. At first, like thousands of other health care professionals, she worked tirelessly in crisis mode. But by last fall, she was experiencing random and repeated physiological symptoms, including a racing heart and dimmed vision. She diagnosed herself as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.