Digest Magazine

"Anesthesiologists are the experts on intubation and extubation. If you’re looking to have the least amount of aerosolization, you want the most practiced, the ...most experienced person doing that. We’re also the intensivists of the ORs; we take care of everybody’s diabetes, high blood pressure. We hang pressors, we do lines, we do transfusions, we do codes, we do all of that. Osteopathically speaking, we take care of the whole person." Read more from Casey Naughton Dowling, DO ’89, an anesthesiologist on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic in Winchester, Virginia: https://bit.ly/3euZUux #PCOMheroes See more

In New York City’s northern suburbs, we knew a hurricane was coming in late February. Instead of running away, we chose to run toward it. We chose to stand in ...it for 12 hours a day, every day, not knowing when the storm would pass. Read more from William Greenhut, DO ’08, FACEP, attending physician, emergency medicine, and associate director, emergency department, Montefiore Nyack, Nyack, New York: https://bit.ly/31TSNZS #PCOMheroes See more

The epicenter of the pandemic in New Jersey, we have become a national model. We are heartened by our unprecedented frontline care. We are also burned out. Man...y are suffering from acute stress, PTSD. Our hospital has had an up-close view of daily tragedies. We have mourned the death of four employees, and over a dozen doctors have been sickened. Our hospital CEO also contracted the virus. Personally, I can tell you that the fear I saw in patients’ eyes still sticks with me. The sounds of the pandemic have become embedded in my consciousness. Read more from Suraj Kumar Saggar, DO ’02, chief, Department of Infectious Disease, Holy Name Health Hospital, Teaneck, New Jersey: https://bit.ly/3eOIMAR #PCOMheroes See more

It is most disconcertingthe health inequities that have been magnified by the pandemic. I manage our hospital’s COVID-19 Pregnancy Center, treating positive p...atients or those suspected of having the virus. Many of the patients I see live in crowded conditions, multiple adults and children under one roofa greater potential for viral spread. Many rely on public transportation to get to their prenatal care appointments. Some work service jobs that put them in dangerous proximity to others. They lack access to health care and health insurance outside of pregnancy. Many struggle to afford even their prenatal vitamins. There are so many barriers. Read more from Michele Tartaglia, DO ’02, FACOOG, CS, obstetrician and gynecologist, ChristianaCare, Newark, Delaware: https://bit.ly/31wkibK #PCOMheroes Rosemont College See more

I use social media to reach more people with evidence-based messages about the coronavirus. I post weekly without hype and politics, in a straight-forward mann...er. I discuss what we might expect in the coming weeks, pointing to CDC or other predictive models. I talk about the importanceand rationalefor social distancing and wearing masks in public. I want to help as many people as I can. Read more from Dominic Valentino III, DO ’01, FCCP, FACOI, clinical associate professor of medicine, PCOM; and physician, critical care medicine, internal medicine, sleep medicine, and pulmonary medicine, ChristianaCare's Christiana Hospital, Newark, Delaware: https://bit.ly/31gImPN #PCOMheroes See more

As a breastfeeding mom, now I’m taking precautions for myself and my three-month-old. I work my shifts fully donned in my own PPE, and I have to doff everythin...g when I pump breast milk in my office. I do that three times during each nine-hour shift while managing critical patients, taking calls from nurses, doing verbal orders, admitting patients to the hospital, checking lab results. . . . At home, my eight- and seven-year-olds are always asking, ‘Mom, you’re going to fight the coronavirus today, right?’ And my three-year-old says, ‘And you’re going to win!’ Read more about Gina M. Blocker, DO ’10, FAAEM, staff emergency physician, St. Luke’s/Baylor Hospital, Houston, Texas, and a Mom of four young kids, serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle: pcom.edu/pcomheroes #pcomheroes #digestmagazine See more

The biggest thing we see is chest pain. But after a thorough workup and deeper discussion, we find it’s usually anxiety. So I let them know, ‘Hey, everyone’s a...nxious. I hear you, I understand your concerns.’ . . . People are really scared. Read more from PCOM Georgia alum Danielle Ward, DO ’18, urgent care physician in Atlanta, Georgia: https://bit.ly/2Aopljh #pcomheroes #digestmagazine See more

We learned from the Italian cohort. We learned from the Seattle cohort. We learned from the New York cohort. And then we pivoted our care. Read more from Mic...hael Benninghoff, DO ’01, Section Chief, Critical Care, and Medical Director, Medical ICU, ChristianaCare Hospital, Newark, Delaware, who serves on ChristianaCare’s COVID-19 Steering Committee: https://bit.ly/2B4UCYB #PCOMheroes See more

I was in Hong Kong on reserve flight duty when volunteers were sought to pilot an evacuation flight into Wuhan during the height of the coronavirus outbreak. U...nited States government officials and their families, as well as other American citizens, were trapped in the epicenter of a pandemicwithout medical care, without food or water. Read more from Juk Ting, DO ’95, first officer, Boeing 747-400 pilot, Kalitta Air, Ypsilanti, Michigan, and staff physician and assistant clinical professor, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, California, who was one of four pilots on the first evacuation flight out of Wuhan: https://bit.ly/3g9TwL7 #PCOMheroes See more