DOCTORS ' LOUNGE
DOCTORS ' LOUNGE
SPEAK YOUR MIND If you would like to respond to an article in this issue , please submit an article or letter to the editor . Contributions may be sent to editor @ glms . org . The GLMS Editorial Board reserves the right to choose what will be published . Please note that the views expressed in Doctors ’ Lounge or any other article in this publication are not those of the Greater Louisville Medical Society or Louisville Medicine .
Reports of people rescued from caves
and collapsed buildings echo the same theme : “ Battered and limping , they emerged blinking into the sunshine .”
Sometime in February , that will be us . The first batch of the Vaccinated will give way to the phase 1B batch here in Kentucky , and more of our older citizenry will get their first shots . By the end of March , those over 65 and those with chronic risks to health will have bared their arms - we hope . By Derby , a big batch of Kentuckians will have gained protective immunity , and Hoosiers too .
Then what ? Reunions , first and foremost : grandparents and the youngest generation will take center stage . The freedom to embrace , to cuddle and snuggle , to tussle and giggle and chase around the yard ; the everyday happiness of grands of all sorts will fill every street and park around . Medical parents who ’ ve had to strip and shower before venturing indoors will bust right in to hug their kids to pieces .
Residents freed from their assisted living quarters will rejoice with loved ones at last . Many have had no contact except with aides , and entered no rooms except their own , since March . They have lost much , with significant drops recorded in language skills and memory , and whether they ’ ll improve again is unknown . Their ranks have shrunk severely . They will look around the dining room for familiar faces and shudder at the immensity of loss . Yet they are still here , alive and cared for , not homeless and alone .
Untold numbers of us have gone without : a roof , a furnace that works , food . Thousands are jobless , struggling and scared , living in shelters and packed into apartments . Medical workers and hospital staff of all ranks have had to face and take the COVID-19 contact
24 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
ESCAPING
AUTHOR Mary Barry , MD
risk , but at least we ’ ve been employed . Those who have served in COVID-19 units and lost scores of patients have a different reckoning to make , inside themselves . There is no escape from sorrow , helpless anger or the toll of constant strain and worry about two families : your work and home ones both . There is only living steadfastly , mourning and fighting each day for each patient . But in the dawn of vaccination , the constant fear of death and disability has eased . The roots of thankfulness are stronger than ever . We know a blessing when we see one .
The great corps of waiters , chefs and bartenders , hanging on by their fingertips for nearly a year , will seize their deliverance at last . We will sit at the bar again , instead of scuttling in for takeout , alert to all within 10 feet and hating the unmasked “ Covidiots ” lounging there inside , threatening the city with every breath . Immense numbers of Kentuckians and Hoosiers have simply disregarded all warnings . Some days , 10,000 new cases in Indiana and over 5,000 in Kentucky testify to this . The lucky ones can gloat , having taken no precautions , yet escaped unscathed . The unlucky ones are dead , or in mourning . Finding compassion for them is a stretch . There have been so many teachable moments , yet the stubbornly ignorant closed their ears and minds , indignantly , to all of them .
It ’ s vital that they view the vaccine differently . December polls by WebMD showed a high of only 56 % of people overall who would take the vaccine . More than 60 % of Ohio nursing home staff refused the vaccine as of Dec . 31 ( NBC news ). Colleen Shalby , et al ., in the Dec . 31 LA Times reported that up to 50 % of Riverside County frontline staff refused the vaccine . From the Kaiser Family Foundation : “ With the launch of the Kaiser Family Foundation COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor , a mid-December survey found an increase in the share of the public saying they would definitely or probably get a vaccine for COVID-19 if it was determined to be safe by scientists and available for free to everyone who wanted