PORTFOLIO PREVIEW

My name is Heather Patterson. I am an emergency physician and photographer based in Calgary, Canada.
This project is a longitudinal photo documentation of the rarely seen, in-hospital experiences of frontline workers, patients and families during the COVID-19 pandemic. The harrowing, yet often intimate images explore the themes of suffering and vulnerability while simultaneously highlighting resilience, teamwork, and compassion.
As we face the 4th wave of COVID-19, new challenges have arisen including illness in children and the vaccinated medically vulnerable, as well as judgement experienced by those who are not vaccinated by choice. Healthcare and hospital frontline workers are burnt out and discouraged by protests at hospital entrances and the relentless onslaught of COVID-19.
I will continue to photograph our daily lived in-hospital experiences in the hope that it will inspire kindness and compassion for all those suffering with COVID-19.
Heather
Heather Patterson, BScH, MD, FRCPC Emergency Medicine
PORTFOLIO SAMPLE
All photos taken and posted with AHS approval and individual consent.
Embargoed Content
MEDIA FEATURES
July 15, 2021 | Alberta Medical Association
Calgary Physician Photographer Documents Frontline COVID Response
June 11, 2021 | College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta
Images from the Pandemic Front Lines
June 1, 2021 | Maclean's Magazine
Alone and Afraid: Alberta's Third Wave in Photos
May 8, 2021 | CTV News Channel
May 1, 2021 | City News Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto
Rare photographs reflect fight against COVID-19
April 23, 2021 | 770 News Radio
PhotoDoc: An Interview with Dr. Heather Patterson
April 23, 2021 | CTV Calgary
Photography of pandemic depicts exhaustion, tragedy inside Calgary's Foothills Hospital
April 8, 2021 | Calgary Health Foundation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAjw6xJEyJY
Mar 22, 2021 | Maclean's Magazine
Year One: The untold story of the pandemic p.44-45
Mar 18, 2021 | Calgary Herald
'Speaks to the strength of our team': How Calgary's health-care workers managed one year of the pandemic
Mar 8, 2021 | Calgary Herald
The pandemic shows how far women have come and how far they have left to go
Jan 18, 2021 | CBC The National
Jan 18, 2021 | Global Calgary
Calgary ER doctor takes sabbatical to photograph colleagues on COVID-19 front lines
Jan 15, 2021 | CTV Calgary
Photos from inside Calgary COVID-19 wards
Jan 15, 2021 | COVID Kindness, Canadian Medical Association
ER doctor captures humanity and hope through hospital photography project
Jan 14, 2021 | CBC Calgary
Calgary ER doctor captures life on the frontlines of pandemic through photography project
Jan 14, 2021 | CBC Calgary Radio
How a Calgary emergency room doctor is chronicling the COVID-19 pandemic with her camera