Documentary on Windsor's COVID-19 field hospital set to premiere
CBC News | Posted: March 16, 2021 10:47 AM | Last Updated: March 16, 2021
Dispatches from a Field Hospital will air Tuesday at 9 p.m. on TVO
A documentary about the field hospital set up in Windsor last April offers a unique perspective on the pandemic, showing how COVID-19 patients and family kept in touch during trying times.
Dispatches from a Field Hospital, co-produced and directed by Matt Gallagher, shows the conversations that patients at the St. Clair College SportsPlex had through phones and iPads with their loved ones. Among these conversations are those that Gallagher's mom had with his dad, who spent 46 days in the field hospital recovering from the disease.
Ahead of the documentary's premiere on TVO Tuesday night, Gallagher and his mom Joan spoke with host Tony Doucette from CBC Radio's Windsor Morning.
Gallagher described the experience as "hard," with many long days waiting for a phone call to come through.
"While we were waiting for those phone calls from the doctor or my dad, me and my mom would have conversations about stuff and so it was sort of an interesting time to document what was going on at the field hospital but it was also great because I got to spend so much time with my family and my mom during the pandemic," he said.
"The documentary camera actually allowed us to dig a bit deeper into how we were feeling."
WATCH: Matt Gallagher discusses turning the camera toward his own family for this documentary, while his mother Joan shares her feelings about watching her husband experience COVID-19.
Gallagher said his dad was one of 49 sent to the field hospital, which was set up by Windsor Regional Hospital, to receive care in the early months of the pandemic.
"I saw the love, just the love that came from that field hospital ... just watching how they speak to people," she said. "They just worked so well together. They went out on a limb, [because] they weren't sure what was going to happen, there was so much emotion in there."
The final patients were discharged from the field hospital in June.
LISTEN | Hear more from CBC Radio's Windsor Morning interview with Matt and Joan: