FEATURE
“ HOW 2020 CHANGED ME , MY LIFE AND MEDICINE ”
AUTHOR Alexis Karageorge , MD
Prior to 2020 , I had only taken two sick days in 24 years of internal medicine private practice ! Unbeknownst to me , that would soon change .
January 2020 changed my life and my practice . Seeing what was happening in Wuhan , China , I knew I needed to prepare my practice for the coronavirus pandemic that was destined to plague the US . I immediately tried to order gloves , gowns , N95 , surgical loop masks , shoe coverings and hand sanitizer only to be told by my longtime vendors that nothing was available . I tried to open accounts with other vendors only to be told that since I didn ’ t have an existing account in the last quarter of 2019 , I could not open a new account ! I met with supply chain directors at two major hospital systems where I have privileges and begged them to allow me to place a small order with them : nope . I was finally able to find a few N95s at Home Depot and local paint stores . Brownsboro Hardware placed a sign in their window advertising N95s in stock , limit one . I was surprised and touched that despite the lockdown , a few of my patients purchased an N95 as a gift to help protect me and my staff . I found a few contact-free thermometers from Amazon . Price gouging on some medical supply websites was unbelievable . I paid $ 69.95 for a pack of 50 isolation gowns . The very next month , that same pack was $ 345.00 ! Through the generosity of Maker 13 , I got some face shields . Through GLMS , I was able to obtain some PPE from the Strategic National Stockpile Program and a care package they put together for independent practitioners .
But it was too late ! In March , I developed symptoms of mild COVID-19 that put me in quarantine for two weeks . I have an excellent staff who kept the office open . I quickly learned how to do telehealth appointments with my patients on a laptop computer from my guest bedroom . With the advent of electronic health records , I was able to review all labs , faxes and correspondence in real time . It took 12 days to get results of my SARs-CoV-2 NAA that was thankfully negative , but the Respiratory Pathogen Panel was positive for Human Metapneumovirus . Fortunately , my symptoms completely resolved , and I returned to work as usual .
While in quarantine , I developed a long-range plan to navigate my practice through the pandemic , to protect my staff , my patients
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