Get the Daily News Digest in your inbox each morning. Sign Up

Readers’ feedback: Primary care doctor says more PPE needed

Primary care doctor: COVID-19 has no standard

Family medicine, taking care of newborns all the way to reaching old age, has been my life and calling for 33 years in Prattville, Alabama. Diagnosing and treating with all readily available cutting edge technologies has been the standard afforded me and my patients

COVID19 has no standard. We brace to encounter it with scant protective supplies, few diagnostic aids and no known treatment. We hope for clear medical diagnostic and treatment directives from those that are the experts. We’ve only had very limited success through personal professional networking using social media and professional business relationships

Our patients and the medical community need help desperately and we need help now. Personal protective equipment should be abundant, testing should be plentiful and treatments should be imminent...they are NOT! HELP!!

Dr. Martin Wybenga, Wybenga Family Health Care, President of the Autauga County Medical Society, Counsellor to the College of Counsellors of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama

ER physician: We need you to slow the spread

As a father of four and also an emergency physician, social distancing has had a major effect on both work and home for me.

At home, my wife and I are working hard to get our children through the next several weeks of virtual school.  At work, my colleagues across the state and I are gearing up to to take care of large numbers of sick infectious patients who have the potential to make us extremely sick as well.  We are working extra hours, wearing protective gear, and seeing patients inside isolation tents all while trying to also keep taking care of our usual heart attacks, strokes, and traumas.

On our off days we are coming in for meetings with our hospital teams to try to plan and prepare for a potential huge surge of patients.  We are working hard to be able to care for every patient that needs us, but we also need you.

We need you because ultimately the impact of COVID-19 will be decided not just by our healthcare system but also by your willingness to practice social distancing, wash hands, and avoid large crowds to slow down the spread of this disease.

Michael Bindon MD FACEP, President, Alabama Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians

Alabama Daily News is publishing the thoughts of those impacted by the coronavirus and the efforts to slow its spread. Medical professionals, first responders, educators, business owners, gig workers, parents, just to name a few, we want to hear from you, please, about what you’re seeing, how you’re coping and what you need. Please send emails to [email protected] or [email protected]

Get the Daily News Digest in your inbox each morning.

Name(Required)
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Web Development By Infomedia