LOS ANGELES – Some heroes wear capes, but Adam Rider wears a hazmat suit and a scuba mask before he confronts an invisible enemy: COVID-19.
“It is very bad – at least the people that I’ve seen,” Rider said. “It’s no joke. These people are really, really sick.”
Rider is a former reality TV show producer whose transformed himself into a front-line worker. He founded a non-profit, Flatten the Curve, that connects doctors and nurses with the medical supplies they need to protect themselves from coronavirus.
But lately, he’s had to pivot and suit up himself. He’s become a lifeline for patients dealing with a deadly disease at home.
“I have, for lack of a better word, a spacesuit I put on,” Rider said.
You may have heard the statistic that 80 percent of COVID-19 cases are mild. But those “mild cases” still take a toll. For many, protecting their family members means going through it all alone.
Recently, he visited Alma Cornejo who wasn’t sick enough for the ICU, but still needed oxygen. Cornejo’s husband has diabetes and can’t risk catching the disease from her, so the family reached out to Rider for help.
“I thought I was Wonder Woman,” Cornejo said. “I don’t know how I came down with this thing.”
The hospital discharged Cornejo with an oxygen tank, but she had no instructions on how to use it. Rider isn’t a doctor but he called one up on Facetime – a former fraternity brother – who showed them how to get the oxygen flowing.
“I was very touched by the fact he was willing to…risk his own life to come over and hook it up,” Cornejo said.
Rider is helping two dozen families like that – delivering care packages day and night.
“It’s a very lonely disease,” Cornejo said.
“It’s very sad to see because they are going through it alone and their loved ones feel like they can’t help them,” Rider said.
The visit to Cornejo was a close call, so Rider went to get himself tested.
A few days later, he got the results – negative. It means he can get back to work, with the certainty that there’s no invisible enemy along for the ride.