COVID Corner with Dr. Gary Jacques

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." --Albert Einstein Dear MANNM and Los Alamos community, Today, New Mexico has 21 positive cases. None of these are reported in Los Alamos. Most are in Albuquerque. Santa Fe has 3. The task force team met again yesterday and refined policies and practices to try to keep all patients with a respiratory infection separated from all the rest of our patients. All patients with signs and symptoms of respiratory infection will be directed to suite D. There are many advantages to this including increased safety for patients on A, B, C. All the doctors and staff working in suite D are using protective equipment and are refining their own processes to work effectively and efficiently with respiratory patients. This increases safety for them as well as for all of us. Keep in mind that none of our patients have tested positive yet, but we would be wise to remain careful and vigilant. The day may soon come, when all testing for corona virus is off site. This may simplify things somewhat for us, but I suspect we will always have some patients with respiratory conditions needing treatment so the processes we have in place now will not be wasted. On a separate note, all quotes for this week will focus on our connection with one another. As social distancing and "sheltering in place" become more commonplace it will be important for us to be intentional about staying connected with loved ones and each other. To borrow from the quote above by Albert Einstein, let's find the opportunity in this to be more thoughtful and encouraging than ever before! Dr. Jacques