Sharon Reece , MD , of UAMS Northwest in Fayetteville , stands next to their grant-funded vaccine refrigerator and freezer .
The website also has an information section for physicians and a training section for physicians and clinic staff . That instruction includes informative webinars on timely topics like Preparing for Pediatric Vaccines , COVID Therapeutics , and Telemedicine During and Post Pandemic . Arkansas Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Jennifer Dillaha , MD , discussed how the partnership between AMS and ADH helped create the webinar series .
“ To help provide training for physicians and health care workers on COVID and to support their vaccination activities , AMS has , through this partnership , put together five webinars since last summer ,” she said . “ I ’ ve helped with these as have Drs . Greenfield and Kothari . This has been an important partnership because the Society has good relations with so many physicians around the state . They communicate with them in ongoing and timely ways , so that has been a good help to the Department to get training and information out . I receive requests for this kind of training , and I ’ m able to refer them to the AMS website , which is a great resource because not everybody was able to attend when the event occurred . They can watch them after the fact .” in extraordinary and ever-changing circumstances .
“ The pandemic has been extremely challenging because we ’ ve had to learn about COVID-19 as we ’ ve gone along in coping with the pandemic . New vaccines have been developed and made available as well as therapeutics , and that is a steep learning curve for clinics to learn and manage these new pharmaceutical products for the benefit of patients . This illness changes somewhat with each new surge of a new variant , so we ’ re going to be learning about it for a long time . So far , we haven ’ t focused much on the long-term complications of having been infected with SARS COv2 , but it ’ s clear there will be long-term complications . As a state medical community , we will need to continue to work together to meet the needs of the people we serve .
“ We ’ re fortunate that we have a vaccine that works , and we have treatment options that work as well . So , a lot of the important strategy for maintaining low
“ Because of our mini-grant , we will be able to store more vaccine safely where the vaccines are distributed and given . We are so excited to be able to increase our vaccine capacity safely and effectively .”
-Stephanie Kruger , Assistant Director of Programs and COVID Clinic Lead , UAMS Northwest Regional Campus
spread and avoiding spikes will be on the shoulders of our health care providers working to persuade their patients to get vaccinated or take treatments that have demonstrated benefit . I greatly admire the physicians and their staff in Arkansas . They have worked so hard to meet the needs of their patients during the pandemic – not just for COVID but for other health needs – at a time when resources have been greatly stretched and the future is hard to predict .”
For more information on webinars mentioned here , practice management assistance , membership benefits , and legislative affairs related to the Arkansas Medical Society , visit ARKMED . org or call ( 501 ) 224-8967 . ■
LEARNING , ADAPTING , CARRYING ON
In addition to celebrating the frequent partnerships between AMS and ADH and complimenting the Society ’ s efforts , Dr . Dillaha also made a point to commend the physicians of Arkansas in their continued care of patients
SPRING 2022 | VOLUME 118 | NUMBER 9 173