The Indian community in Queens organized a fundraiser for Dr. Devi Nampiaparampil, a physician and media personality who is contesting for the position of the public advocate of New York City.
Nampiaparampil, who is popularly known as Dr. Devi, won the Republican party primary unopposed and is scheduled to face Democratic incumbent Jumaane D. Williams in the November election.
Among other things, the public advocate, a non-voting city council member, can introduce and co-sponsor legislation, investigate citizen complaints, locate problems in city agencies and suggest possible solutions.
Korason Varghese, a writer, was the emcee of the event, organized by Philip Madathil. Entrepreneur Tom Kolath presented the first check, kicking off the fundraiser. The event began with a prayer by Pastor Wilson Jose.
Speakers noted the importance of more Indians, immaterial of party affiliation, winning elections, and thus empowering the community.
Tobin Madathil introduced Nampiaparampil, who discussed her reasons for plunging into politics.
A physician specializing in pain prevention, she has appeared as an on-air medical analyst in over 500 news segments for Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, CBS News, ITV, and other national and international networks. She was also an on-air medical contributor for Fox 5 NY.
She said that despite her connections, she faced severe problems at the height of the COVID pandemic, which forced her to consider what less fortunate New Yorkers go through.
â€˜I am trying to move the hearts and minds of people so we can overcome this crisis together and make our city stronger. This is a monumental taskâ€” but not an impossible one. Government should create an environment for people to thrive while providing a safety net for those who fall on desperate times. I am running for public advocate because our city government has failed to do that.â€™
She wrote extensively about the situation she faced on her website:
I've been a doctor for almost 20 years. Working as a pain physician, Iâ€™ve heard thousands of stories of pain and suffering. I've fought bureaucracy, backwards laws, and tedious protocols on behalf of veterans, victims of violence and trauma, rape victims, survivors of domestic abuse, the disabled, the medically fragile, refugees and the homeless, but my entire life changed in the past year; I lost everything that mattered to me â€“ at least temporarily.
When the lockdown came in March 2020, my childâ€™s daycare was forced to close. I had to decide whether to stay home with my toddler or whether to keep my practice open and help my patients. If I didn't treat my patients, they would have had to go to the ER, which at that time, would have been a death sentence for them. Many of my patients struggle with cancer, HIV and other major medical problems. So I sent my child upstate to live with my parents. I thought she would be away for two long weeks. I didn't see her again for 8 months.
Within two weeks of getting our toddler back in November last year, COVID infected our family. The following week, I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I was 8 monthsâ€™ pregnant and woke up every hour or so. My husband was awake in the living room having a conversation with someone who wasnâ€™t there. I realized he was delirious. I called 911. Within hours, he was on high-flow nasal ventilation.
I was experiencing some signs of labor and some signs of severe COVID but I couldnâ€™t see the doctor for a combination of reasons. These included lack of childcare especially since my child had COVID, concerns I might infect people such as a hired driver or other pregnant women with COVID at the OBâ€™s office, and the costs of healthcare. My husband and I had insuranceâ€” but we had high deductibles and coinsurances. I wasnâ€™t sure what was happening.
I was told that if I got hospitalized while my husband was in the hospital, the City would take my toddlerâ€”because both her parents were incapacitated and it was an unsafe environment. Because she was COVID positive, I couldnâ€™t give her to people who were COVID negative, like my parents, or I would risk infecting them. Luckily, a relative previously infected with COVID, and positive for antibodies traveled to NYC, to help usâ€” even though she was terrified she would catch COVID again.
After 11 long days, my husband came back home â€” still extremely deconditioned â€” and I went into labor a few hours later.
When I searched for a solution for my two-year-old daughter, I heard similar stories from patients, nannies, home health aides, nurses, social workers, case managers, and doctors struggling to find care for children, parents, pets and other dependents. Many of my patients with disabilities struggled to find home health aides.
Before I got infected myself, I treated patients who were still dealing with the after-effects of COVID. Not everyone bounced back quickly.
The city seemed to be in a state of chaos. This was most apparent to me when I experienced labor pains in December 2020. I circled the massive hospital campus on foot alone. I hadnâ€™t called an ambulance because the pain was manageable at first. I regretted my decision.
Soon the pain was unbearable and I couldnâ€™t find the correct entrance. It wasnâ€™t the regular Obstetrics entrance. I didnâ€™t pass the COVID screening questions even though I was out of the quarantine period. They turned me away and told me to go to the Emergency Room because I had a recent positive COVID test. It wasnâ€™t the Emergency Room entrance either. Security redirected me because I was having contractions. They said the E.R. treated patients with COVID but not patients in labor. Only Obstetrics delivered babies. I was freezing, short of breath perhaps from COVID, and having painful contractions. I continued to walk around the concrete fortress looking for the right entrance. I thought me and my unborn baby might die right there on the dirty deserted sidewalk. Then a security guard came out of nowhere with a wheelchair to help me.
The delivery did not go as I expected, but my baby was born healthy on December 3rd with antibodies to COVID. This was before the COVID vaccine was available.
In the darkest days of my life, when I was separated from my toddler and later when I thought my husband was dying, I was never alone. I thought I was protecting my baby â€” but in fact, my baby was protecting me, and treating my 2,000 patients along with me. When I got infected with COVID and should have died, my baby fought the virus and made antibodies to protect both of us. My baby, Rania Alie Thaliath, was infected because we stayed in New York to help people who were suffering. She is one of the youngest American heroes that we have.

Fundraiser held for Dr. Devi Nampiaparampil, NYC public advocate candidate