\u201cI look at my job as a calling, more than just a job,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I went into nursing, I knew that it was a high possibility that I could contract some kind of disease.\u201d<\/p>\n
When a patient arrives at the clinic, Clark and her colleagues go to their vehicle in full personal protective equipment \u2013 N95 mask and shield, gown and gloves. They ask a series of questions about symptoms, exposure to someone with COVID-19 in the past 14 days and whether they\u2019ve been outside the country in the past 14 days.<\/p>\n
Depending on their symptoms, patients may be tested for flu and\/or COVID-19. Patients with significant health issues are directed to the emergency room or walk-in clinic.<\/p>\n
A lot has changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would call the walk-in clinic or the ER, and someone would meet them at the car in full PPE and take them to a sick room so they weren\u2019t with well patients when they went into the facility,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n
Right now, if a patient who doesn\u2019t test positive for the flu but meets the coronavirus criteria of fever, dry cough and shortness of breath, a nasal swab specimen is taken by Southwest and sent to an off-site facility for a COVID-19 test. Test results usually take two to seven days, according to Bridgett Jabour, executive assistant at Southwest Health System.<\/p>\n
Southwest is working to purchase testing equipment, so that the hospital can conduct in-house testing and get results in two to four hours, Jabour said.<\/p>\n
At the drive-thru clinic, Clark\u2019s job also means supporting visitors emotionally. She encourages patients to focus on something they can control, like social distancing and using masks.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone is afraid of the unknown,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s truly what you\u2019re talking about when you say, \u2018I don\u2019t know if I could be a carrier or not.\u2019 We\u2019re kind of all in the same boat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Staff also offer some spiritual care for residents who have lost loved ones to the coronavirus.<\/p>\n
At the end of a day, Clark goes home and washes her clothes. She practices what she preaches: social distancing and face coverings.<\/p>\n
She remembers doing this before, during the HIV outbreak, when she met every patient wearing mask and gloves.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the same thing stands true now,\u201d Clark said. \u201cStandard precautions are what really prevent most of the diseases from being transferred.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the front line of communication<\/em>Dr. Kameo Smith, a family health physician at Southwest, in on the front lines of communication.<\/p>\n In the earliest stages of the pandemic, Southwest Health System took a traditional approach to illness, dividing exam rooms into sick and well rooms, and waiting rooms into sick and well areas. Once Southwest Health realized the dangers of asymptomatic patients, who appear well but were carriers of the coronavirus, things changed.<\/p>\n \u201cThen we really made the transition toward a telemedicine, telehealth model of care,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n Smith spends a lot of time now talking to patients on the phone or a video conference, about the same number of patients as before, but she focuses more on problems rather than on preventive care, she said.<\/p>\n Staff still see high-risk and urgent patients in person, but the hospital is careful of how many people come in at a time, Smith said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to be a little bit choosy about that, so that we don\u2019t have all of them coming here all at the same time,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want a waiting room full of people.\u201d<\/p>\n Right now, 80% to 90% of primary care visits are conducted through video or telephone at Southwest, said Jabour, and it has seemed to help.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve really found that as long as we\u2019re in close communication with them, it really helps ease a lot of those fears and anxieties,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n The pandemic has turned her into a \u201cgermophobe,\u201d Smith said. She is always masked, keeps hand sanitizer in the car, and leaves her work gear in the garage.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I get sick I can\u2019t take care of other people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n House calls take a back seat<\/em>Dr. Charlotte Barry is an internal medicine physician. She was stationed at Southwest\u2019s clinic in Mancos but was temporarily relocated to Cortez when the pandemic hit home.<\/p>\n She treats people ages 17 and up, but compared with other family doctors, tends to get more referrals from older, chronically ill patients, she said. Beginning in January, she began conducting home visits once a month \u2013 helpful for patients who can\u2019t drive and perhaps more personal, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been delighted at some of the response I\u2019ve gotten to my home visits,\u201d Barry said. \u201cAnd how welcoming my patients are, and how touched they are that I would come to see them at their house. And that in turn has pretty deeply affected me, I feel like it\u2019s almost a return to the old-fashioned types of medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n The coronavirus interrupted her at-home practice, but when her video and phone work is done, she tries to maintain her monthly home visits.<\/p>\n Stress over the coronavirus threat has affected her patients\u2019 health, too.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody\u2019s concerned, worried, frightened,\u201d Barry said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of become a big part of a lot of visits, at least right now. More people are experiencing sleep disturbances, even clinical depression, unfortunate levels of anxiety. A lot of folks don\u2019t know what kind of precautions they need to take, a lot of people don\u2019t even really understand what social distancing is.\u201d<\/p>\n She and her colleagues emphasize how patients can protect themselves, making do with what they have.<\/p>\n And her own feelings about the coronavirus?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m more long-term worried than worried for myself in an immediate sense,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m just more long-term worried for what\u2019s going to happen to the medical profession, what\u2019s going to happen to this region, where so many businesses are mom-and-pop businesses. I\u2019m long-term worried. In the immediate sense, this is the job we\u2019ve chosen. You always kind of think about that stuff in the back of your brain.\u201d<\/p>\n Mercy Regional Medical Center<\/em>Darcy Rumberger, an emergency medicine physician at Mercy, said that growing up, she swore she\u2019d never get into the medical field. With her two parents both private practitioners, she had a sort of inherent teenage rebellion to the idea.<\/p>\n But, as she went through school, there was no denying her passion.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I got into college, (the medical field) fascinated me, and I just couldn\u2019t get enough,\u201d she said. \u201cSo much to my parents\u2019 chagrin, I told them I was going to get into medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n Emergency medicine, to be exact. The draw of connecting with people on their worst day, practicing all kinds of care and being able to see immediate results drew Rumberger to the field.<\/p>\n After 10 years of emergency room experience, she was as prepared as one could be when coronavirus started to dominate headlines. But with children at home, and parents she cares for, there was a sense of personal caution.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s exceedingly important we\u2019re as careful as possible,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re all very aware of that, especially if we have susceptible people in our lives. We need to do our jobs, but we also have to go home to our families.\u201d<\/p>\n Kendall Rockler, the medical director for Mercy\u2019s Emergency Department, said hospital staff members have risen to the challenges posed by the virus and created a camaraderie that helps them soldier on despite the emotional toll.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve always been front-line providers because we never know what\u2019s coming in the front door,\u201d she said. \u201cWe all went into this career understanding there\u2019s an inherent risk when we chose this type of medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say the hospital isn\u2019t taking heightened precautions, Rockler said. Mercy created a special wing in the Emergency Department for patients suspected of having the virus, called the \u201cCOVID cul-de-sac,\u201d to better isolate the virus from staff and other patients who require care.<\/p>\n And there are a number of new precautions and protocols \u2013 putting on and taking off personal protective equipment, showering before and after shifts and leaving shoes at work \u2013 that weren\u2019t routine pre-pandemic.<\/p>\n Rockler said Mercy has yet to see a spike in COVID cases. As people stay at home to reduce spreading infections and avoid unnecessary trips to the hospital, the emergency room\u2019s volume has been down.<\/p>\n \u201cThat said, the patients coming in sick with it are very sick,\u201d Rockler said. \u201cIt really takes a toll, even on people with strong immune systems.\u201d<\/p>\n Southwest Colorado has not seen a spike in cases \u2013 in part because of a lack of testing, but also because health officials believe social-distancing measures might be working. But most health officials believe a rise in cases is expected in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cMy message for the community is, let\u2019s keep doing what we\u2019re doing,\u201d Rockler said. \u201cWe appreciate everything people have done to stay at home, and we\u2019re here to protect you if you get sick.\u201d<\/p>\n For Rumberger, maybe one of the most poignant moments came last week as she was leaving for work. Her 4-year-old son imparted some innocent advice: Don\u2019t get sick.<\/p>\n \u201cI go to work nearly every day, but he never understood what I do,\u201d she said. \u201cBut now he understands I go to take care of people that need me. It was very sweet.\u201d<\/p>\n San Juan Regional Medical Center<\/em>Before leaving work, Robin Malara changes out of her work clothes and shoes. When she gets home, she immediately changes again and takes a shower before interacting with her family.<\/p>\n Normally cautious, it\u2019s an additional precaution Malara has taken to protect herself and her family from COVID-19.<\/p>\n San Juan County had 243 positive cases with 1,961 tests completed as of Friday afternoon, which include 14 deaths. San Juan Regional Medical Center was caring for 16 COVID-19-positive patients as of Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe past several months have been a blur,\u201d said Malara, an intensive care unit nurse with San Juan Regional Medical Center for seven years.<\/p>\n Malara said the hospital started preparing months ago for the coronavirus pandemic, and so far, there hasn\u2019t been a shortage of personal protective equipment, or PPE.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are seeing some very sick patients right now,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has been stressful for me personally as well as for the other caregivers on my unit.\u201d<\/p>\n She added the hospital has created new policies to protect both hospital staff, patients and the community \u2013 like separating non-COVID-19 patients and COVID-19 patients into separate wards, additional PPE requirements and daily temperature checks for staff members.<\/p>\n Dr. David Devitre, who has worked throughout the hospital for 10 years, said while the number of patients in the hospital is down from previous years, they are caring for sicker, more critically-ill patients because of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a bit different working in a pandemic like this, almost like a war zone,\u201d Devitre said.<\/p>\n Doctors and nurses, who are still learning about the new disease from colleagues in Italy, China and across the U.S., don\u2019t have a definitive way of how best to treat patients, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter a few days of being stable on a ventilator, we\u2019ve seen patients just crash. It\u2019s probably the scariest thing with the disease,\u201d Devitre said. \u201cThey go from being stable to being dead within 12 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that is why it was so important for people to realize the severity of the virus and continue to maintain social distancing to decrease the spread of the disease and lessen the strain on the hospital.<\/p>\n Malara and Devitre expressed gratitude for the support from the community \u2013 in donating personal protective equipment, food and money \u2013 and the continued work of the front-line responders, including doctors, nurses and hospital support staff.<\/p>\n Reporter Liz Weber, of the New Mexico bureau, contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Southwest Colorado health workers share coronavirus stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,21,28,68,138,445,3352,210,538],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-89127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-mercy-regional-medical-center","tag-new-mexico","tag-newsletter-lead","tag-san-juan-regional-medical-center","tag-southwest-health-system","tag-southwest-memorial-hospital"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89128,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89127\/revisions\/89128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89127"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=89127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}