by Greg Schwem

The ongoing stay-at-home order has forced most of us to seek amusement by posting photos of ourselves from bygone eras to our social media accounts.
“Share your high school senior picture” was trending last week; a challenge I was about to undertake until I read how doing so could invite hackers to glean more information about me, such as where I attended school, where I currently lived and who did such a horrible job cutting my hair in 1980.
Security experts also warned that more information could be easily obtained once this information was known, as many people choose to use their high school as a security answer or worse, their password. Those of you who attended Catholic schools need not worry; even the most skilled hacker is probably going to give up before guessing, “AcademyOfOurLadyOfGoodCounsel1994.”
Despite not participating, I enjoyed seeing these throwback photos, from graduation and other events, posted by friends. Did everybody in the 1970s wear thick, black horn-rimmed glasses and look like they worked for the Apollo space program?
Ladies, if you attended college in the early 1980s, did the law require you to part your hair down the middle and then feather it back with enough aerosol to start a salon?
And guys, did you not realize that only David Coverdale, from Whitesnake, and Jon Bon Jovi could pull off the big hair, pompadour look? The rest of you had that “just exited a wind tunnel” look.
Tom, my long-time comedian friend in New York, often reminds me why he has never jumped on the fashion bandwagon. “The hipper your clothes are today, the more ridiculous photos of you are going to look in 20 years,” he says on stage.
I won’t argue.
When scientists find a vaccine for COVID-19, the “all clear” signal is given, and life returns to whatever is subsequently defined as “normal,” we will all be left with treasure troves of photos taken during the pandemic. And in future decades, when those photos find their way into school history books (assuming schools and books still exist) or onto social media sites, viewers won’t need to look at a hairstyle, a car in the background or an item of clothing to determine the photo was indeed shot in 2020.
For starters, the viewer only has to see the photo’s dimensions. It will most likely be shot vertically, with a 9-by-16 aspect ratio. The photo will contain only one subject. Correction, one HUMAN subject. Animals may be included, but more people? Absolutely not, for they will all be standing at least 6 feet away and, therefore, out of frame.
The subject will be wearing sweatpants and a faded T-shirt containing some semblance of the slogan, “We’re All in this Together.” He or she will be shoeless. Men will have facial stubble; sadly, so will some women. Hairstyles won’t have complimentary names like “The Rachel,” “Charlie’s Angels” or “The David Hasselhoff.” Instead, all hair will fall into the “Dang, That Should Have Been Cut Weeks Ago” category.
Photos of celebratory occasions will feature one participant, perfectly centered, wearing a “Happy Birthday” or “Congratulations” party hat, while grainy, square images of others hover overhead. The word “Zoom” will appear somewhere.
The “guess where this photo was taken” game will be boring once everybody realizes the answer is always the same: “Uh, your house?” Kids who play sports won’t appear in photos wearing brightly colored uniforms while baseball diamonds and soccer fields glisten behind them. Instead, the background will be a basement wall or a garage door. Youth basketball players, take heart: At least the vertical photos will make you look taller than you are.
Since the stay-at-home order began in mid-March, I have neglected to take many photos, so anxious am I to erase this moment from my life, rather than record it for future viewing. I did break down last weekend and post a selfie, snapped while my wife cut my hair. The pandemic, I realized, would not date it.
Trust me, even without a global health crisis, that image is horrifying and depressing.
(Greg Schwem is a corporate stand-up comedian and author of two books: “Text Me If You’re Breathing: Observations, Frustrations and Life Lessons From a Low-Tech Dad” and the recently released “The Road To Success Goes Through the Salad Bar: A Pile of BS From a Corporate Comedian,” available at Amazon.com. Visit Greg on the web at www.gregschwem.com.)

You’ve enjoyed reading, and laughing at, Greg Schwem’s monthly humor columns in Senior Living News. But did you know Greg is also a nationally touring stand-up comedian? And he loves to make audiences laugh about the joys, and frustrations, of growing older. Watch the clip and, if you’d like Greg to perform at your senior center or senior event, contact him through his website at www.gregschwem.com)

* As of this advisory, there are 3,280 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Oklahoma.
* There are three additional deaths; zero occurred in the past 24 hours and the others died between April 24-April 25.
* One in Tulsa County, a male in the 65 and older age group.
* One in Carter County, a female in the 50-64 age group.
* One in Wagoner County, a female in the 65 and older age group.
* There are 197 total deaths in the state.
Note: The number of total cumulative negative specimens, total cumulative number of specimens to date, and the number currently hospitalized reported below are compiled through the Executive Order reports submitted to the governor. These reports are not submitted on the weekend, and therefore, those numbers found in this report will be updated Tuesday. All other numbers listed in this report are current.
* The American Association on Health and Disability (AAHD) has created a survey to assess health care and health care access challenges people with disabilities are encountering with the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey is open until May 1 and can be found here.
* A list of COVID-19 testing sites in the state can be found here.
* For more information, visit coronavirus.health.ok.gov.

*The total includes laboratory information provided to OSDH at the time of the report. Total counts may not reflect unique individuals.
**This number is a combination of hospitalized positive cases and hospitalized persons under investigation, as reported by hospitals at the time of the report. The data reflect a change in calculation and should not be compared to prior data.

by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

Social distancing. Infection risk. Quarantines.
The news during this pandemic has been enough to make your head spin.
Fear has been prominent no matter who you listen to and nearly everyone agrees – at least for now – it’s probably a good idea to just stay home.
For more than 30 years, Diana Hendrix worked in nursing home administration. She understands that life does go on and she also understands vulnerable populations.
That’s why six years ago she started Guardian Angels Concierge Service.
Little did she know that her business one day would be saving lives.
“Most of my seniors are pretty concerned. They don’t want to get sick,” she said. “They don’t understand why all this is happening but they still don’t want to get sick and don’t want their families to get sick.”
That’s where Guardian Angels comes in, to provide essential services during this time. Grocery shopping, light housekeeping and cooking still remain essential and Hendrix and her staff are able to provide those services.
”The one thing I’m trying to get out there is don’t be afraid to call us. Just because this is happening in the world if you need help call us,” Hendrix said. “I can do a certain amount of interviewing on the phone and pulling things together without actually being with a client. But even when I do have to see a client we’re very protective.”
In business since 2014, Hendrix brings her healthcare administration experience to her clients.
“I thought there would be a better way to help our seniors but I didn’t want to do any nursing. There are plenty of nurses out there and home health agencies. So I started out grocery shopping and making sure seniors ate and took their medicine.”
Grocery shopping and cooking was the easy part of.
Per regulations, Hendrix isn’t allowed to administer medication to clients but she can be there to remind her patients when they’re due.
The big thing I try to do for every family is try to find a solution for whatever is going on in their life,” Hendrix said.
As most non-essential stores have closed, errands are fewer for Hendrix.
“We’re still doing a lot of cooking which we do a lot of breakfasts, sandwiches for lunch and we do a great deal of crockpot and casserole cooking so clients can have them several days,” Hendrix said.
Hendrix and her staff are still able to still walk pets and provide other services just on a limited basis.
“We’re not taking any of our furry friends to the vet right now,” she said. “The vet I use is saying unless it’s an emergency we’re not really going into the vets.”
Another service is escorting patients to doctor’s appointments, which has taken on a new look.
“What they’re doing is they’re saying stay in your car and we’ll call you when the doctor is ready to see you,” Hendrix said. “They’re saying the fewer the better. They’ll take my client’s temperature, escort them into the doctor’s office and turn around and bring them back to the car.”
“They’re not wanting people to be in the waiting room at all.”
Things may look different but Hendrix and her staff are getting things done in this new normal.
“We’re trying our hardest not to go to stores. We’re doing as much as we can online,” said Hendrix.
Shoe coverings are donned before going into a client’s homes as well as gloves and sanitizing wipes.
Right now, the largest service is Hendrix is fulfilling is home organization including down-size packing. Regular housekeeping and laundry is also offered.
“When I started to look at the governor’s list to see if we were necessary,” she said. “The reason we fell into that essential spot was that if we didn’t come the client would not be able to do it. Picking up a load of laundry is hard for clients who use a walker or wheelchair. Making their bed, running a vacuum cleaner are things they need help with to stay at home.”
As the quarantine wanes on, Hendrix has noted her regular clients call more often.
But Hendrix and her staff are still there and talking with clients and reminiscing with them, brighten their days as they go along.
“It’s amazing I’m talking to them almost every day and I’m telling my staff to make sure you give them a call,” Hendrix said. “Those that started out with me … they’re still calling me.”
“I commend every administrator out there because I know they have a hard job.”
You can find out more about Guardian Angels online at guardianangelsokc.com or on Facebook.

story and photo by Vickie Jenkins, Staff Writer

Growing up in Holdenville, OK in the late sixties, people considered this as golden town living; a safe place to live, small in size and friendly folks. At the tender age of twelve, Barbara McDougal was like most girls, beginning to notice those once dreaded species called boys. She began to push her childish ways to the side, knowing that she would soon be a teenager. Barbara took notice of a certain boy that had just moved to the neighborhood, only one block away from her. She peeked out the window each time he walked by her house as he adventured out, exploring the mighty streets in the neighborhood.
As Barbara and her girlfriends gathered, Barbara found herself secretly pointing this boy out, telling them how cute he was, along with a firm statement of, “Someday, that boy is going to be mine.”
It wasn’t long before Barbara became more interested in this new boy in town. She would casually be sitting on the front porch at the most convenient planned out times. It wasn’t long before this boy walked by her house, stopping to introduce himself. It was just like one of those love stories on the big screen; the two of them stood there, gazing into each other’s eyes, as though a light suddenly came on. They knew the love bug had gotten to both of them. They had been love-struck!
His name was Bobby Aldridge and he was sixteen-year- old. He drove around town in his blue ‘57 Chevy and Barbara remembers the car being far out! After a few visits between the families and getting to know each other a little better, Barbara was allowed to meet Bobby for lunch at the local Dairy Queen. They spent their time holding hands as they listened to the juke box play some of their favorite music; Donavan’s Hurdy Gurdy Man and Tommy James and the Shondells. Soon, the relationship between the two of them progressed and they were inseparable!
In this time and age, when a boy liked a girl, he gave her a token of his love by giving her a drop, a necklace with the boy’s initials on it; Bobby’s initials being RLA. Now, they were going steady! The relationship between Barbara and Bobby was going perfect!
It was in 1970, that Barbara got the news that Bobby and his family were moving from Holdenville, to Oklahoma City, OK. No, this couldn’t happen! Both families hated to see the sweet couple separate but it had to be. Bobby’s dad had taken on a new job in Oklahoma City, OK. After the move, frequent visits were made by Barbara as her parents would drive to OKC, allowing Barbara to spend as much time as possible with Bobby. Little did they know that their relationship would be coming to an end in the near future.
Life brings changes when we least expect it and our paths take off in different directions.
Barbara graduated in 1974 and attended Oklahoma State University. This was a whole new world for her; college, new friends and discoveries of being an adult. Barbara became an LPN in 1978, working in Stillwater, OKC and even moved to Dallas, Texas for a while. Barbara realized that she needed to go back to school for her RN. She moved back to OKC in 2007 to begin RN school at OSU/OKC.
Time moves on. Barbara had just finished one of her classes and decided to go a near-by restaurant for lunch. As she sat at a booth, she noticed a gentleman sitting at a booth, across the room, not far from her. Taking a second look, he looked very familiar. Was it Bobby? With a feeling of nervousness and a little flushed, she got up and walked over to him. Yes, it was Bobby! They enjoyed talking to each other and reminisced about old times. Their love story picked up where they left off.
Barbara and Bobby were married on October 7, 2017. Barbara wore his initials, RLA as a charm on her charm bracelet in their wedding. This was the something old for her wedding.
Now, it’s the year 2020. Bobby is a homebuilder in OKC and Barbara is an RN at Mercy Rehab Hospital. Today, they still hold hands as they listen to some of their favorite music; Donavan’s Hurdy Gurdy Man and Tommy James and the Shondells.
From first love to last love, fifty-one years later and the love is still growing.

Story and photos by Darl DeVault

While Oklahoma seniors have been the most vulnerable to COVID-19, our modern heroes, medical health professionals, have also been impacted by this huge stress event.
Medical outcomes are stark. There are no proven therapies to treat or cure the disease. In Oklahoma, the vast majority of COVID-19 deaths are in seniors 65 or older, as high as 80 percent. The statistics go on and on, unchanging in dire descriptions of how vulnerable aging bodies are to the pandemic.
Another group shares a vulnerability every bit as brutal in descriptions. Our medical health professionals are the next highest death rate in America. Besides the brutal numbers of deaths, there is another facet of their suffering.
They are repeatedly exposed to preventable unmanageable stress. This immersion in the onslaught of a pandemic has the potential to inflict post- traumatic stress disorder.
In honor of the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the World Health Organization (WHO) has designated 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife.” Since National Nurses Week is celebrated soon from May 6 through May 12 it is appropriate to ask one “What are you going through?”
Nurse Beth Bierig said last week from New Jersey, “Working on a floor of all COVID-19 positive patients whose change in status happens quickly without warning, makes you feel constantly guarded as to when your own medical health will quickly turn badly as well. You don’t have time to even comprehend how scary the silent killer surrounds every piece of air you work in, but it weighs heavily on your mind.”
Bierig, from Hackensack University Medical Center, goes on to explain how having a servant’s heart can put a nurse in harm’s way. “While performing life sustaining measures on your patients and respiratory fragments flood the air in the process, you can’t help but wonder, will it be saving their life that takes mine?” she said. “I don’t know the effects it will have on myself or other people, because everyone has had different experiences. Every nursing specialty has their own traumas and people are generally drawn to what they can handle.”
Also, “the support nurses receive after this will affect their long-term mental health pertaining to this situation. The whole situation has affected everyone strongly, not only health care providers. We’re living in a historic time and hopefully we all learn from it.”
From the respiratory therapists who manage ventilators, and technicians that manage ICU equipment to the direct caregivers, stress can be overwhelming. The heroes who share their servant’s heart signed up to be properly supported and use their knowledge and ability to affect positive change. Again, at present, there are no proven therapies to cure COVID-19.
Some health care professionals function where they are overwhelmed by the sheer number of deaths that take place right in front of them. Sometimes as often as hourly, these deaths may inflict a PTSD future on the frontlines of medicine.
For those healers who were constantly worried about their own health because of a shortage of personal protective equipment life can change. Just the apprehension of spreading the disease to their family could have a dire outcome.
COVID-19, the severe respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic is extremely transmissible. Properly protected ICU critical care team workers being readied for patient interaction look like preflight prep before blastoff for our moon missions.
These heroes may share an almost as strong an impact as the vulnerable seniors who perished. Some may suffer grave symptoms of psychological stress impacting their ability to deliver medical health care in the future.
Every psyche is different in the many roles played by helping healers who suited up to sustain the COVID-19 patients. Science tells us women are twice as likely to suffer PTSD symptoms.
This pandemic is something different. The onslaught of stress can change brain wiring for the worse — at the level to create PTSD. Later, some may seek to stay away from the situations that remind them of the traumatic events.
Some caregivers may not be able to adaptively overcome the stress and adversity while maintaining normal psychological and physical functioning.
The potential for PTSD is when an individual is placed in a situation where they do not have all the needed equipment, weaponry, support by colleagues in numbers needed, or proper support from superiors. This is also fueled when they feel they do not have the proper protective material and are forced to go in harm’s way relentlessly when they fear for their own survival. On April 3, Oklahoma showed 10.6 percent of its confirmed cases were health care workers.
Situationally produced and yet self-imposed is the stress of sleeping in their cars in their hospital parking lot because they do not want to bring potential illness and death home to their families. This can result in the development of PTSD, depression and other psychiatric disorders.
In a medical scenario where our heroes ran toward the danger and healing is supposed to take place that sounds extremely abrupt. But in many of our hospitals that were overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients presenting repeated unmanageable stressors, that is exactly what was happening.
Often nurses and doctors in COVID-19 hotspots made life and death choices, deciding who was to live and who was to die because of a limited number of ventilators and limited ability to intubate. And there was the randomness of patients dying right in front of them as these patients first entered the hospital.
We must be honest. Nurses and doctors are human and cannot escape that negative impact. People who signed up to work around the sick also take great pride in learning all the ways to be healers.
To suddenly be immersed in the onslaught of hourly and daily negative scenario can have a permanently deleterious effect on the human psyche. It remains to be seen if overwhelming the individual at a high morbidity level has a lasting effect. We know brainwave activity that negativity establishes can create specific pathways in the brain that were not there before.
How do we know what effect this has on these brave people’s body and spirit when these pathways are never compensated for? These individuals may have anxiety and depression from these days forward.
The wild card in all of this are brave medical health professionals who contracted COVID-19 themselves, while trying their best to help others. Hundreds have died around the world. Yes, they signed up for this profession, but not to suffer the same as their patients.
Another stressor is some hospitals, such as the University of Oklahoma Medical Center, are cutting pay and hours because of the strict emphasis on COVID-19 leaving them cash poor.
“A grateful nation will likely create a fund offering therapy and treatment for front line medical professionals who have health problems traceable to saving lives similar to the federal World Trade Center Health Program,” Oklahoman Kara De La Pena, APRN, said. “Considering for many of us who took on preventable risks, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 will be held up as a model for providing us medical treatment. That program is funded through 2090 now.”
The seniors saved and whole world thank our heroes and seek restorative insight into the medical outcomes thrust upon the healers who fight to keep people alive.

by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

Now, more than ever, people need quality care at home from providers who can make sense of a daily changing healthcare environment.
For more than 50 years, people have turned to Interim HealthCare for that quality, compassionate care.
Ashley Simms, LPN, has been with Interim for two of those years, serving now as the assistant manager of sales operations.
“We realize for seniors and those with serious underlying health conditions home is the best place for them to be during this time,” Simms said.
While state and local governments mandate people stay at home to flatten the curve on Covid-19, care is needed more than ever inside the home.
“I think at this time it’s so critical … because legislatively there’s a lot of focus on hospitals which is important but these patients are going to come home and somebody has to take care of them,” Simms said. “There are so many factors that go into Covid that many people don’t consider such as fear and mental health.”
Interim HealthCare offers a full suite of services including: home healthcare, hospice care, personal care and support, veteran and spouse care, palliative care, behavioral health as well as neonatal and pediatric home care.
Interim offers services in Canadian, Cleveland, Grady, Kingfisher, Lincoln, Logan, McClain, Oklahoma, Payne and Pottawatomie counties.
The care extends beyond medical.
“Our social workers work diligently to help assist patients in obtaining necessary and basic items such as food and shelter which helps to drive down fear for our patients, especially in a time of crisis like this,” Simms said.
For several years, healthcare delivery has been trending more and more to a home setting to help curb rising medical costs. That means patients are coming home quicker and sicker than they ever have before.
And the hospital penalties for patients who readmit for the same diagnosis within 30 days can be substantial.
That’s why hospitals and other facilities rely on providers like Interim to stand in the gap and make sure patients safely recover at home.
With Covid-19 forcing more and more Oklahomans to stay at home, monitoring these high risk patients and intervening before they become sick has taken on an even greater importance.
Simms said Interim has long provided telehealth options for patients for daily monitoring of things like blood pressure, oxygen saturation and weight.
“A lot of times that provides calm to those patients because they are able to see somebody,” Simms explained. “It helps us keep an eye on our patients. Due to the restrictions that have been loosened for healthcare in general right now if the patient has a smartphone we’re able to FaceTime with them.”
Being unable to get out to doctor appointments can cause a sense of panic. Simms understands that.
“We’re also trying to drive down the fear with our patients because we’re trained and we know how this process works,” Simms said. “We’re not scared and know how to take care of you. There’s a lot of fear circling. We have to be the forefront of education.”
Being able to talk to patients in their own home at their own pace is an invaluable piece of the puzzle. Simms said Interim providers are able to have those conversations that rely on facts not the latest headlines.
“I believe we do an excellent job during this scary time,” Simms said. “At the top, it’s important we support our nurses. I think being the calm in the storm is what we do best. Before Covid, we took high-risk patients.”
“Because that’s already our platform, Covid was just a step up for us. We’re able to educate why (a patient) might be at more risk. We’re able to take that time, take those precautions and provide that education.”
Interim is locally owned and part of a national network of more than 300 offices.
Employing more than 75,000 healthcare workers, Interim provides care to more than 50,000 patients each day.
Simms explained Interim revolves around key concepts including: preparation and training, monitoring and reporting, alternative methods of care, high standards of safety and an emergency preparedness plan.
And in these trying times, Simms said Interim has made it a greater focus to love on its frontline staff.
From lunches and breakfasts to special personal protective equipment including floor mats and car seat covers, Interim is protecting those who protect us all.
“At Interim we believe we are all in this together and I think being the calm in the storm is what we do best.”

Dear Savvy Senior, Do currently offered vaccines against pneumonia provide seniors any protection against the coronavirus disease? I’ve always been bad about getting vaccinated, but this coronavirus pandemic is causing me to change my thinking. Pro-Vax Patty

Dear Patty,
This is a great question. Because the coronavirus (COVID-19) attacks the lungs and respiratory system, many readers have asked whether the pneumonia vaccines, which are administered to millions of patients each year, might protect someone if they contract the coronavirus.
But unfortunately, the answer is no. Vaccines against pneumonia, such as pneumococcal vaccine and Haemophilus influenza type B vaccine, do not provide protection against the new coronavirus.
This virus is so new and different that it needs its own vaccine. Researchers are in the process of rapidly developing a vaccine against COVID-19, but it is expected to take at least a year before it’s ready.
Having said that, you should also know that there are several other important vaccines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all seniors should get up to date on after the coronavirus pandemic dies down. Here’s a rundown of what they are, when you should get them, and how they’re covered by Medicare.
Flu vaccine: While annual flu shots are recommended each fall to everyone, they are very important for older adults to get because seniors have a much greater risk of developing dangerous flu complications. According to the CDC, last year up to 647,000 people were hospitalized and 61,200 died because of the flu – most of whom were age 65 and older.
To improve your chances of escaping the seasonal flu, this September or October consider a vaccine specifically designed for people 65 and older. The Fluzone High Dose or FLUAD are the two options that provide extra protection beyond what a standard flu shot offers. And all flu shots are covered under Medicare Part B.
Pneumococcal vaccine: As previously stated, this vaccine protects against pneumonia, which hospitalizes around 250,000 Americans and kills about 50,000 each year. It’s recommended that all seniors, 65 or older, get two separate vaccines – PCV13 (Prevnar 13) and PPSV23 (Pneumovax 23). Both vaccines, which are administered one year apart, protect against different strains of the bacteria to provide maximum protection. Medicare Part B covers both shots if they are taken at least a year apart.
Shingles vaccine: Caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox, shingles is a painful, blistering skin rash that affects more than 1 million Americans every year. All people over age 50 should get the new Shingrix vaccine, which is given in two doses, two to six months apart. Even if you’ve already had shingles, you should still get this vaccination because reoccurring cases are possible. The CDC also recommends that anyone previously vaccinated with Zostavax be revaccinated with Shingrix because it’s significantly more effective.
All Medicare Part D prescription drug plans cover shingles vaccinations, but coverage amounts, and reimbursement rules vary depending on where the shot is given. Check your plan.
Tdap vaccine: A one-time dose of the Tdap vaccine, which covers tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough) is recommended to all adults. If you’ve already had a Tdap shot, you should get a tetanus-diphtheria (Td) booster shot every 10 years. All Medicare Part D prescription drug plans cover these vaccinations.
Other Vaccinations
Depending on your health conditions, preferences, age and future travel schedule, the CDC offers a “What Vaccines Do You Need?” quiz at www2.CDC.gov/nip/adultimmsched to help you determine what additional vaccines may be appropriate for you. You should also talk to your doctor during your next visit about which vaccinations you should get.
To locate a site that offers any of these vaccines, visit VaccineFinder.org and type in your location.
Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

Mark Rolfe, M.D., is a Lung Transplant and Critical Care Pulmonologist at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center. He says we are starting to see an increase in COVID-19 cases requiring hospitalization. Many of those end up in the intensive care unit, where he works.
“The first time I walked into the room of a patient known to have COVID-19, I paused at the door,” admits Rolfe. “I was a little frightened at facing this disease for the first time.”
It was the first case to be diagnosed at INTEGRIS Baptist, and Rolfe reveals it brought back memories from early on in his career. “I grew up in medicine at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic and remember the hysteria around that diagnosis and all the precautions people took to not catch it. We initially wore hazmat suits with those patients and put them in different wings of the hospital.”
He continues, “It feels like I am living those days from my medical school years all over again. This disease, unlike HIV, is very contagious though. A person can spend five to six minutes with someone who is infected and catch this disease.”
In Rolfe’s ICU, every patient there either has the virus or is considered high risk. But despite the apparent danger associated with COVID-19, Rolfe feels his unit is very safe. “We have developed protocols that protect us, and everyone is very careful,” he says. “I feel I am more likely to get this disease shopping at the grocery store than in my hospital or ICU.”
He further explains, “In the public, there are unknown asymptomatic carriers who are very contagious and just don’t know it. In the hospital, I know where the danger is, and I am prepared to deal with it safely.”
Rolfe understands the importance of his work. “We are doctors. We are supposed to take care of the ill to the best of our ability. It is a challenge, but it is also a calling. God gave us these gifts for a reason. It’s time to step into the breach and use them.”
But don’t call him a hero, he says that honor is reserved for America’s finest. “Doctors are not heroes. We are doing what we were trained to do. Generations of physicians have fought off diseases throughout the years. It is our legacy. It is why we are respected in this society. The efforts to fight this disease and help people through it is the price of that respect,” states Rolfe.
“The people who put on a uniform and protect our country are the heroes.
Masks, gloves and hand washing will stop a virus. Nothing stops a bullet, a missile, a grenade, or a knife. The police and military are our heroes.”
However, Rolfe does acknowledge that the novel coronavirus has completely altered life as we knew it. He says each one of us has the power to reclaim it, we just have to work together to do so. “It’s all been said before, but it is worth repeating – wash your hands, don’t touch your face, avoid crowds and stay home to stay safe. Do what you can now, so you don’t become one of my patients later.”