This year, I spent my birthday contemplating how I could transition my practice into a solely telemedicine-based service. I had planned to have a lovely seafood dinner, and a big piece of cheesecake. Instead, COVID-19 demanded my attention. I drafted letters and consent forms and ran trials of the various telemedicine platforms. I consulted with colleagues. I prepared to hunker down with my family. Since that day, I can say with overwhelming gratitude I was able to serve over 100 patients with videos directly in their homes. Technology has its benefits, for sure.
The most commonly used descriptor I’m hearing for this unusual season we’re in is “unprecedented.” And indeed, it is. As the nation, and world, scramble to make sense of COVID-19, doctors seek to blunt its eventual effects on humanity. We postulate, and plan, and revise and consult. But most of all, we lean on each other. And as a psychiatrist, my job now is to muster all I can to help my patients, whom I call “my people,” find mental wellness and emotional strength - and to provide crisis support for my colleagues on the frontline.
As I write this post, I’ve just come back from my doorway – where neighbors are driving through blowing their horns. It’s the birthday of a child on my street and this is their social distancing celebration. It’s a creative, poignant way of letting him know he is loved. Inadvertently, they have helped me celebrate the Hope Grove Psychiatry blog’s second birthday. It brings tears to my eyes. COVID-19 is teaching us in one of the most powerful ways possible how much we truly need each other.
The Hope Grove Psychiatry blog was created to help people help themselves, and each other. At no time in recent history can any of us remember a time when help, love, and patience were needed more. Please be kind, be strong, be smart, consider your actions and how they impact the whole. Be human. And forever let hope grow in your hearts. Thank you for continuing to support this blog, Hope Grove Family. I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, do it without you.