Frontline Worker Hospitalized For a Month Owes $1M in Medical Bills

Nationwide — Shenita Russie, a 42-year old African American healthcare worker from Arkansas, says that she owes nearly a million dollars in medical bills after being hospitalized due to COVID-19.

Russie, who is a mobile respiratory therapist, reportedly became infected with the virus while working with COVID-19 patients in Boston when the pandemic first began.

When her condition got critical, she was placed in a medically-induced coma and had to stay in the hospital for more than a month. With that, her medical bills accumulated to a shocking amount.

“The bills? They are incredible,” she told THV11. “I mean it was close to a million dollars just for how sick I was on life support.”

Now, Russie is still suffering from long COVID. She hasn’t been able to work since she got sick and she even needs a cane to walk sometimes. She also had to undergo cardiologist consultations and rehabilitations, which costs her more money.

Moreover, as a healthcare worker, Russie had worker’s compensation that covers some of the cost. But she is still seeking to settle bills with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Baptist Health.