They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. If that’s the case, then Monica Ortiz should be almost invulnerable.
Ortiz contracted COVID “around the beginning of April, and I had no symptoms at all,” she relates. “The only reason I decided to stay home was because the patient I was taking care of had just [tested] positive; I was the only nurse taking care of her. Something told me to just stay home and wait for my test results—and it turned out I had it.
But Ortiz encountered yet another hurdle during this year of living dangerously. “I have bipolar II disorder, PTSD, and anxiety,” Ortiz says. “Because I didn’t work at CPS, I didn’t have insurance any longer—and with this new job, the insurance didn’t kick in for a while. So I was extremely worried about not getting my medication, and I couldn’t see my therapist or psychiatrist. But I was able to get in touch with a therapist and get my prescriptions; I would’ve really gone down a rabbit hole without [the medication]. I’ve done that before. I can’t imagine people not having access to those resources.”
This coverage is made possible by support from the Chicago Foundation for Women. This story was written in collaboration with ALMA Chicago to share and archive the stories of LGBTQ Latinx individuals in Chicago during the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, visit ALMAChicago.org.
