MEMBERSHIP By Peter Graber NCAFP Communications
Family Physicians Fight COVID on the Frontlines Family physicians across North Carolina are mobilizing like never before in the battle to flatten the COVID-19 curve. Below is a sampling of efforts being made by several NCAFP members. Family physicians across the state have also continued to make key contributions within their communities, raising awareness of the importance of primary care and Family Medicine’s frontline role.
UNC’s Amir Barzin, MD – Dr. Barzin is at the helm of the UNC’s Respiratory Diagnostic Center and leads a team that are seeing from 70 to 150 people a day coming in for drive-through COVID-19 testing at the Ambulatory Care Center site in Chapel Hill. Duke’s Clayton Cooper, MD - As rising chief resident, Dr. Cooper helped to set up Duke’s first drive through COVID-19 testing site at Duke Family Medicine and also continues to support Duke’s COVID-19 drive through testing efforts. Cooper has also been working with his residency program and clinic leadership to modify resident schedules to deploy residents where needed within the health system. Asheville’s Jason Cook, MD - Dr. Cook’s medical device startup, Relaspen, has used its prototyping engineers and facilities to design and manufacture face shields that were then donated to local primary care groups and hospitals. The company was also See ‘Frontlines’ on Back Cover
The Silver Lining in the New Type of ‘House Call’ By Genevieve Brauning, MD
For the past three weeks, I have been mostly connecting with my patients through video visits. And I can now say that I am starting to appreciate an unexpected silver lining.
able family members in their homes to help. And in spite of so many hurdles, patients keep figuring it out.
During the past six years at my practice, I, like most family medicine doctors, have developed countless strong relationships with patients solely through face-to-face office visits. Until recently, I couldn’t envision truly knowing my patients without that in-person contact.
For me, and patients alike, it feels like a little miracle every time these visits actually connect, and we can finally see and hear each other. We mutually struggle with microphones, video cameras and bad lighting until suddenly we are connected in our own virtual face-to-face visit. At that connection moment, we typically find ourselves relieved and smiling and ready to get to business.
COVID-19 has changed that. Video visits have opened the door to a whole new level of getting to know someone. Don’t get me wrong, the rapid transition to video visits has been riddled with challenges. I am not a millennial and am not particularly adept at the technology required to make each video visit function. Just setting them up has opened my eyes to the challenges some of my patients face. No smartphone. No home computer or tablet. No knowledge8
And through those visits, I have come to see a whole new side of people I thought I knew so well. I see a child or a spouse I have never met waving in the background and the patient saying, “Say hi to my doctor!” I see a pet jumping See Silver Lining on Back Cover
The North Carolina Family Physician
