“A Light At The End Of The Tunnel” – ER Doc Overjoyed To Receive Vaccine

Dr. Ben Usatch has treated hundreds of COVID-19 patients...and says he's overjoyed that the end of the pandemic is now on the way. KUSA's Marc Sallinger reports.

(NBC News) — Dr. Ben Usatch has treated hundreds of COVID-19 patients as an emergency room doctor at Colorado’s Highlands Ranch hospital since the pandemic and today he rolled up his sleeve for the vaccine that gives him protection against a virus that’s killed so many.

As a doctor working in a year full of so much darkness, light is something we’ve all been searching for – it also Dr. Usatch gives him hope beyond the doors of the ER.

“I got my vaccine this morning. A light at the end of the tunnel,” said Usatch, the medical director for emergency department at UCHealth Highlands Ranch Hospital. “There are so many emotions with this. True confession, I didn’t really sleep great last night because I was just so pumped up about this.”

He said he didn’t even feel the shot go into his arm. He blames that on his adrenaline. What he did feel was a cocktail of emotions that can only come to life after seeing the sights Usatch lives through every day.

“There’s nothing more gut-wrenching to me than knowing that when I admit somebody and put them in the ICU, that they very well may not make it,” said Usatch.

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