We Are Essential

Dietrich’s Story

These days, everyone is trying to keep the fabric of society from unraveling, and many of our friends in the Oklahoma City community have agreed to talk about it. Their views expressed here do not reflect the views of their employers, nor the views of my employer. We are just working together to convey their experiences. 

Today’s community feature is a man whose go-getter personality combined with his healthy distrust of authority make him a natural entrepreneur. Here he with his beloved wife and four of his five kids:

The handsome fella with the beard and the face is Dietrich Wilhelm Schnorrenberg. He learned how to ride a motorcycle before he could legally drive a car, is much less German than his name makes it appear, is an experienced gamer, and has been unexpectedly promoted to primary caregiver/educator for five young children. 

As a self-employed member of the “essential infrastructure” of this country, married to a medical worker, with five young children, Dietrich is right there in the sweet spot of people hit very, very hard by this pandemic and the public response to it. He has graciously agreed to share his story and hopes it resonates with some others out there. We are none of us alone in this.

How Dietrich’s Life Has Changed

Once upon a time, Dietrich was a busy self-employed “IT guy.”  He would have his calendar full of appointments every day, and he would drive around the OKC metro area, and the entire state of Oklahoma, to the people and businesses who needed his services. 

“My father and Mother are both coders.  Mom does html and Dad worked in dos back in the day. They’ve both moved on since then but they taught me.”

His family’s early teaching led Dietrich to the work he does now, which is IT consulting. He has always worked primarily with medical and dental practices. 

“I either fix broken medical and dental computers and equipment, or I help you plan expansions on a network  and computer side.”

Medical and dental practices are some of the places shut down by government fiat right now, so much of Dietrich’s usual work has dried up. On top of that, Dietrich’s wife Kaysea works in the medical field as an MA, so has frequent contact with sick patients. 

“Since I work with medical equipment and my wife is a medical assistant, some companies either are shutting down with no need of my services for a few months or they dont want me to come in due to my proximity to medical stuff.”

Additionally, of course, school is closed for Dietrich and Kaysea’s five children. Since Kaysea’s skills are in high demand right now, the job of primary caregiver and educator of the kids, ages ranging from 11 to 9 months, falls to Dietrich. 

Dietrich and his wife are doing their best to keep the family in order, pay their bills, keep food on the table, and keep the kids busy and learning things. Dietrich has been working to establish the best educational curriculum possible for all the kids while keeping them safe and healthy. It’s a tall order. 

Many days Dietrich and the kids will take long nature walks. The older ones are learning about ecosystems, so they are tasked to find and identify plants and animals around them that depend on each other for survival. On the walks Dietrich will point out plants and animals and talk with the kids about what they are, how they live, and what they do. 

Keeping everyone healthy is another tall order, especially with Kaysea exposed to sick patients at work and Dietrich, when he has jobs, working with medical equipment. 

“We both are trained for emergencies and such, so we take precautions. Depending on Kaysea’s day at work we sometimes have to make her change in the garage so she can hop into the shower and we use gloves to wash her clothes. I have to do the same depending on which client I meet.”

Dietrich’s client interaction carries its own set of risks. 

“When I am working I try to work remotely as much as possible. If I have to bring equipment back home to work on if I can’t fix it there, I have to clean it out well. People don’t realize how much dead skin gets sucked into your computer equipment and needs to be cleaned out - it’s some nasty stuff. I have to clean it out side with full hazmat kit: M3, full face mask, and smock.”

How We Can Help Dietrich

Though everyone is in a unique position, many people find themselves in the same situation as Dietrich right now. It is difficult to be a working family in a job that does not allow a work-from-home or paid indefinite leave component. Here is advice from Dietrich on making life easier for him and for others in his position:

“If you can: STAY HOME! if you can’t - if you are, like me, living paycheck to paycheck or an essential worker, remember we are in this as a team. Keep your distance and mind your manners. Wash your hands. Remember, everyone is scared and tense, so try and take it easy on each other.”

What Dietrich Wants You To Know About Newly At-Home Parents

“While it seems like most people are ok with being off work, still getting paid and playing with their kids, me and my wife are bone tired between 12 hour shifts on call and setting up a school for 5 kids and apparently a couple of the neighbor kids. We're just tired and stressed, so if we are grouchy I'm sorry! We really don't mean to be. We are people just like you, trying to make sure our family gets through this.”

Dietrich is certainly not alone. A lot of “essential workers” who can’t stay at home because of their necessary skills, or who can’t stay at home because they have to make ends meet, can see all the things on social media urging them to stay home and really feel like they don’t have a good option. Many people, like Dietrich and Kaysea, have to balance the needs of their family - the need to pay the bills vs. the need to keep everyone safe from infection.  Like Dietrich says, we are all doing the best we can, so please give each other grace. 

“Family, my family is my whole world. Cliche as it is, I’m more proud of being a dad and a husband than I’ll ever be of anything else.”

We thank Dietrich for being willing to share his experience with us. He’s doing a great job and we hope we all keep up the good work.