Here comes the tough part!

OK. Here comes the tough part. We knew this was coming. A larger and larger number of people testing positive for COVID 19. This is when we double down with our resolve to Stay Home and practise social distancing. This is the moment.

This quote sums it up:

"If you can envision a world where we all stay in the same place, six feet away from everybody else for the next 14 days, then the virus would die itself out. The outbreak would end."

It is extremely important that we all do this now. I was cleaning my exam room today. I am acting like a germaphobe. I have never been concerned about germs before. Every surface gets sanitized after every patient interaction. The personal protective equipment shenanigans before and after each patient visit and then there is the hand washing. Twenty seconds, warm soapy water. It takes 20 seconds to sing, "Happy Birthday" so today, that's what I sang, each time I washed my hands. My nurse practitioner was splitting a gut listening to me sing.

The COVID 19 virus has fat in it's outer layer. Soap emulsifies the fat, destroys the outer layer and kills the virus. Today, I washed my hands, sang "Happy Birthday" and envisioned that layer melting away.

Stay inside. Wash your hands. Essential trips to public places only and when you are there, stay 6 feet away from those around you. Wash your hands. Sing "Happy Birthday". And remember, there is a magnificent team of health care professionals and first responders that circle this city. They are standing between you and COVID 19. You are so cared for. Stay strong. Insist that your fear melts away with that fatty outer layer of the virus. Sing. Find joy. We've got this.

Please share. We need to get this message out far and wide.

COVID 19: WE WIN IF WE DON'T PASS IT ON

Me and my crazy staff. I love you guys. It was a two stethoscope kind of day! We are thinking about bringing in sleeping bags and just moving into the office until the COVID 19 Crisis is over. Tomorrow, I will work my first shift at the COVID 19 Clinic in Guelph. Wish me luck and safety!

COVID 19 simplified: 99 % of people with COVID 19 have a fever and dry cough, which means, if you don't have both, chances are, you don't have the virus and you don't need to attend the clinic or the emergency room.

80 % of us who get this virus will be at home with cold symptoms, sipping neocitron and downing tylenol.

The virus is spread by respiratory droplets. That's the goop that comes out of an infected person's lungs. They have to cough or sneeze around you in order for you to breath the virus into your lungs. It's a nasty bug that can live for up to three days on plastic surfaces and stainless steal, 12 hours on cardboard. That means that if an infected person has coughed or sneezed near a surface, they infect those surfaces. If you touch those surfaces and bring your hands to your face, the virus can be transmitted to you.

The virus can't survive without a human host in which it reproduces itself. Unfortunately, that host is you and me. It dies if our immune system kills it, in which case we recover from the disease or if we die with it in our lungs which happens in 3 % of those infected usually in the over 70 year old population. Or, it can live on if we pass it on to our neighbours ,friends and colleagues. That's why we must isolate ourselves: It won't survive if we don't pass it on. WE WIN IF WE DON'T PASS IT ON.

Keep at least 2 m away from other people. Wash your hands after being in contact with surfaces in public spaces. Keep your hands away from your face. That's hard. Look at my hair. I am always pushing it off my face which means, I touch my face! We all do. Sneeze into your elbow. Stop all gatherings large and small. Absolutely, unequivocally, all of them!! If we do this for two weeks, we get control and the virus loses. WE WIN! 

Dr. Anne-Marie Zajdlik MD CCFP

A day at a COVID 19 Screening Clinic

Well. Today was an interesting day. Let me walk you through a day at a COVID 19 Screening Clinic. The day started at 7:30 for training. A team of incredible health care professionals met in a common area to gear up, share stories, encourage each other and make efforts to settle the inevitable anxiety we all feel about testing and treating people who may be infected with one of the most terrifying viruses this planet has ever seen. Not a small task at all but the morning gathering reminded me of the days when I was delivering babies at the Guelph General Hospital: the atmosphere of camaraderie, team work, purpose and compassion. Mostly women, all nurse practitioners and nurses, administrative folks, these are your COVID 19 warriors. These are the folks that will risk their lives for their communities, the people that will win this battle against this pandemic. People with husbands and partners and kids and mortgages and aging parents just like the rest of us. These are your COVID 19 heroes and I am humbled and honoured to be on their team on this day.

The clinic has been well planned and coordinated. It is designed to move you through with your safety and care in mind at all times. Carefully designed areas where staff are gowned and gloved and masked before seeing each patient. Each patient interaction is in a private cubicle that is pristine: questions asked, vitals taken, stories told, anxieties quelled, comfort given. Most are just reassured and sent home to self isolate like the rest of us. A few are sicker with concerning vitals signs that compel us to test and make very clear follow up plans. One or two are sent to the emergency room. A well oiled machine of a team that 5 days ago did not even exist. Did we see COVID 19 today? Maybe. Time will tell when the test results are in. Did we witness the fine execution of a health care system that is one of the best in the world? Yes, we did. Are you in good hands? Their is no doubt that you are. No doubt at all.

This team is here for you and they are ready. We were made to do this. We signed up for this. We are at our best when your lives are put in our hands and we can take the incredible skills, knowledge and training we were given and use it to take care of you under any circumstances regardless of the risk or the consequences.

A shout out to all the nurses, nurse practitioners, doctors and administrative folks across this country who have lined up to take this on. For them, please take care and do your part. Self isolation / social distancing is our social vaccine and it is the only vaccine we've got. We will suffer for a time but no enemy can beat an army like this. Sleep well tonight. We will be OK. We will triumph over this and be better people because of it. Please reach out to the vulnerable and to those who are in isolation alone. They need you.


Dr. Anne-Marie Zajdlik MD CCFP

Sadness and Sacrifice in the COVID 19 Era

Sadness and Sacrifice.....for a world saving cause.

Another day at the office. Wearing a mask has it's setbacks. You cannot sip your Tim Horton's coffee if you are wearing a mask. These masks are precious. I won't take it off until I have seen the handful of patients who have presented today for face to face visits. Patients with symptoms that might suggest COVID 19 are screened over the phone and if they have a new cough, fever, travel history, difficulty catching their breath, they are sent to the COVID 19 clinic for screening and possible testing. Everyone else is receiving consultations using various telecommunication methods. But, that 3 year old with ear pain and that mother who is 17 weeks pregnant, that 65 year old who just had a brain tumour removed...they all need in office appointments. They wear a mask and I wear a mask. Note to self, sip that coffee before the mask is put on.

Today, I felt this huge rush of hope and a surge of renewed energy. It made me realize how troubled I have been, how deeply worried. That hope came from firm and unequivocal government orders telling us to stay home. This is your job while the front line healthcare workers manage the sick and test as many people as we can. This is your job while the scientific community works towards creating an effective vaccine and this is your job while governments figure out how to protect the citizens of this country both from the virus and from the economic toll of shutting down an entire work force and education system.

Several Asian countries who were hit very hard are now recovering and loosening their social distancing rules. They are recovering because they fought hard at the beginning. They put draconian measures in place to keep people apart and they enforced them. This bought them time to test as many people as they could. Now, they are in a phase of sending people back to work and school because they can focus on isolating only those that test positive. While you stay home, preventing further spread of the disease, we will test as many people as possible. It's a two pronged approach: social distancing and massive testing. Give us time to get those test kits and the resources we need to test as many people as we can. Give us time by staying home and halting further spread of the virus. Your government, your healthcare workers and your scientist have a job to do and we can't do it without your help.

If you do this, we will be locked in for weeks, not months and we will get more and more of our freedoms back. Our governments ( provincial and federal) are following the science. Have faith in them and follow them.

In the last 10 days this country has tested 10,000 people/ day. You will see the number of infections go up as these results come in. Don't be alarmed. This is the beginning of a brilliant strategic plan.

The role you play in this plan?

In the words of our brilliant Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, we must practise, "unrelenting social distance".

STAY HOME!

DR. Anne-Marie Zajdlik

Collaboration for Global Health and the End of AIDS

Mobile Health Unit Launch, Lesotho, Africa
March 11, 2020

Bracelet of Hope's first mobile health unit on the ground in Lesotho.  Built in collaboration with our Swiss partner, SolidarMed and the Ministry of Health in Lesotho.  Proof that there is nothing that human kind cannot accomplish when we use our skills, expertise and financial resources in collaboration with other like-minded, compassionate and motivated people.  Thank you Bracelet of Hope, SolidarMed and the Ministry of Health in Lesotho.

Unacceptable on so many levels

There are 400 people in Guelph with psychiatric illnesses who are in crisis. They are on an urgent waiting list to see a psychiatrist. That waiting list is 4 months long. I have four very unstable patients that I am following every week in order to make sure they are safe. That's four appointments every week that could be used by patients with other concerns and although I love working with people with mental health and addiction issues, I am not the prescriber who should be making sure they stay alive while they wait. This is beyond unacceptable. Check the obits on GuelphToday.com and you will see the results of an under-serviced psychiatric system. Kudos to everyone on the front lines of this mess who desperately try to close the massive gaps in care. Please do not burn out. This is the result of irresponsible and ignorant governance. Let's get the teachers what they are asking for and then turn our attention to health care.

World AIDS Day- December 1, 2019

Bracelet of Hope

Mission:  To see the end of AIDS in Lesotho

How we do it?:  With events like the World AIDS Day Gala

Our 8th annual event last night was a smashing success

Who does it?:  The people of Guelph

Members of the Rotary Club of Guelph

Why do we do it?:  For the children of Lesotho

The children of the Larobane foster home

 And for a much better World

I cannot thank you enough!