Of disaster we're right on the brink.

If you ask me "What do you think?"

When it comes to rejection

Of Covid injection

I'd say that the thought process stinks.

Synopsis: I'm a Family Practitioner from Sioux City, Iowa. In 2010 I danced back from the brink of burnout, and honoring a 1 year non-compete clause, traveled and worked in out-of-the-way places in Alaska, Nebraska, Iowa, and New Zealand. I followed 3 years Community Health Center work with further travel and adventures in temporary positions in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Canada, and Alaska.  2019 included hospitalist work in my home town and rural medicine in northern British Columbia.  During COVID-19, I did telemedicine, got COVID-19 and then the vaccinations, and a week of in-person medicine close to home.  My current Iowa gig works me 2 weeks on/1 week off; I took some time off to attend my beloved stepmother's funeral.  Any identifiable patient information, including that of my wife, has been used with permission.

Today I attended 16 patients, all but 4 for respiratory or gut problems requiring COVID testing. 

Of the 12 COVID tests, 6 came back positive.

Another COVID patient from last week came in with complications.

Of the 6 new COVID patients, 4 had not been vaccinated.  More than one had had COVID before.  Most needed back-to-work slips.  None expressed contentment about the length of time the CDC recommends for quarantine. 

But the nature of my set-up brings in a disproportionate number of those who remain unimmunized.  If I don't remember that, I will get a warped view of my clientele. 

I took care of three children, and got out my yoyo for all 3.  Gloves make some string tricks difficult and others impossible.  Still the kids didn't mind that I couldn't do The Matrix or Rock the Baby On the Flying Trapeze.  Even the one with a fever smiled. 

One of the mothers used a term so poetic, evocative, and memorable that I requested (and received) permission to write about it in my blog.  She described the kiddy's nasal projectiles from sneezing as "snot rockets."

The region has a long-term care facility (LTCF).  A person who probably knows asserted that very few of the staff have had their injections, but almost all the residents have.  I look forward to the enforcement of the recent Executive Order, requiring COVID immunizations for LTCFs receiving federal funds. 

I continue in my information-gathering about why people don't get COVID shots.  The most common answer: "I don't know."  The second most common: "It's too new."  The third most common: "We don't know all the side effects."

I do my best not to argue against the illogic.  I do my best to just take the information in and repeat it, using the patient's own words. 

But twice today I just couldn't help myself.  I said, "You know all the risks of smoking, and you continue to smoke.  And you think there might be risks from the COVID shot so you won't get it.  Do I have that right?"

I hope I get them to think.

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