Chandigarh

Shruti Choudhry, former Congress MP from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, has launched an initiative to deliver medicines to the people. The cost of medicines and expenses on delivery are being borne by her. She said she had started the service for people of Dadri, Bhiwani and Mahendragarh. Those in need could WhatsApp their prescription on the number 09812195558 with name, address and contact number, she said. In a video posted in several WhatsApp groups, she said, With this lockdown, it is not possible for everyone to have stock of medicines in villages. With public transport shut, they cannot go out and procure these from far-off places. In case anyone in Dadri, Bhiwani and Mahendragarh is in need of medicines, I will get medicines delivered on their doorstep. TNS

AMBALA

Timings for services fixed

Ambala City SDM Gauri Midha has fixed timings for those providing essential services. As per the order, door-to-door supply of milk and newspapers has been allowed till 8 am and shops providing essential services and commodities, including chemists, will remain open from 9 am to 5 pm. Home delivery of essential items has been allowed and chemists operating in hospitals and nursing homes can remain open 24x7. The order has stipulated opening of fruit and vegetable market till 9 am. The mandi will remain closed to the general public. Milk dairies and vendors can remain open for the public from 9 am to 5 pm. The order will remain in force till April 14. tns

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Medicine delivery offer - The Tribune India

It advises (after washing hands with soap or hydroalcholic gel) simply folding a paper napkin intoan accordion shape and placinga rubber band at each end, over which the edge of the towel is folded beforebeingstapled.

You can watch this step-by-step video to make yours:

Many videos are available on the internet to make a mask but most of them require sewing, unlike this one.

Professor Daniel Garin from the Academy and former head of virology for France's army health service said:"The principle of this mask is not to filter, but simply to prevent the spread in the air of saliva particles that are potentially contaminated by the virus."

As soon as it becomes wet, the maskshould be thrown awayand since it could be infected, itshould only be touchedby the elasticbands.

The Academy (Acadmie nationale de mdecine) also stressed that the FFP2 mask, commonlyknown asduck beakmasksshould be reserved for medical staff asthis type of maskprotectsagainst catchingCovid-19, while the classic surgical mask only protects the environmentaround the wearer.

Professor Garin added: "If everyone wears a mask, it will prevent contamination around you."

Recommendations on wearing a mask(or not)have evolvedin Franceduring the Covid-19 epidemic.

The mask shortage has also influenced the decisions of the government, which saidthe wearing of masks by the general public served no purpose and that masks were only useful formedical staff at the beginning of the epidemic.

However, in the last few days, the government, and health minister Olivier Vran has said that France needs to make more masksand there has been debate about the widespread wearing of masks for all being part of deconfinement.

Some cities such as Nice or Canneshave said they want to make the wearing of masks obligatory but the Interior Minister, Christophe Castaner has asked all the prefects to withdraw these orders. He said that this was "a problematic subject" and the usefulness of masks has not been medically proven.

The Academy of Medicine recommends that public authorities make the wearing of masks compulsory for everyone for short outings during the period of confinement or for future outings at the end of confinement.

The governmentspokesperson Sibeth Ndiaye said: "We will take a decision on the possible extension of the wearing of masks to the entire population as soon as we can build it on a scientific consensus."

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French Medicine Academy: How to make Covid-19 mask The French National Academy of Medicine, an - The Connexion

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- A 27-year-old, soon-to-be doctor, has a warning for all young adults: You are not invincible to COVID-19.

Hes sharing his story in hopes that people who are not taking this seriously begin to realize they too are at risk.

As a fourth-year medical student, David Vega says he prioritized his health. He thought he was invincible to COVID-19, but his outlook changed one month ago.

Very, very scary and the most sick Ive ever felt in my life, Vega explained.

Vega says he could have done more to protect himself. He wrote about his experience for his fellow Indiana University students and staff, to let them know this is serious.

I felt that it would be good to share my story, he added, Especially after seeing there are a lot of young people who are not taking it seriously.

As he detailed his experience, he stated, Sure, Ill wash my hands, Ill social distance after that party, I thought. Looking back, there were too many opportunities for me to have caught this virus. I did not take my health seriously.

After returning from his two-month long global medicine elective in Africa and a week stay in Florida with friends, he knew something wasnt right.

My main symptoms were fever, chills, fatigue, complete muscle and body aches. This lasted about a week, week and a half, and I think thats the scary part, said Vega.

He first thought, maybe its just a bad case of the flu, but he was wrong. He tested positive for COVID-19 and the next 13 days were unimaginable.

Were seeing more and more people admitted to the hospital between ages of 20-44. A lot of those are going to the ICU and being put on ventilators, explained Vega, A lot of them are dying, I was one of the lucky ones.

He continued to detail day by day the symptoms and what he was feeling in his story for the university. He wrote, After waiting SEVEN ENTIRE DAYS in self-quarantine, I finally received my results: positive for COVID-19, continue self-quarantine for another seven days. Ironically, this arrived an hour before receiving my Match Day residency assignment for emergency medicine at the University of Miami. March 20th was certainly a big day of results for me.

Vega wishes he would have listened, but hes not alone.

This is serious business, its a serious infection and it can kill people, said Dr. John Christenson, a Clinical Pediatrics Professor at IU School of Medicine.

Christenson added that hes witnessed young people believing theyre untouchable by congregating, not wearing masks, and barely social distancing.

When you look at the number of cases in Indiana, there are more than 4,000 people who have been infected and a large number of people who have died from this. If you look at hospitals nationwide, youll find adolescents admitted to those hospitals, in intensive care on ventilators, said Christenson.

As for Vega, he will soon begin his residency and he has plans to take his battle with COVID-19 as a learning experience as he prepares to help his own patients.

Seeing the need and seeing now that I have experienced it myself, I understand a lot more about it and have developed some sort of immunity to it, I would say it confirmed my calling even more, said Vega.

According to the CDC, one out of five people hospitalized from COVID-19 are young adults.

Click here to read Vegas full warning to young people.

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IU School of Medicine student shares COVID-19 experience to warn young people they arent invincible - Fox 59

Artists with UAB AIM are telling health care workers, from nurses and physicians to environmental services and facilities staff, they are grateful for the work they continue to do.

AIMs artists-in-residence Elizabeth Vander Kamp, Haleigh Black, Helene Taylor, Lauren Edwards, Lillis Taylor, Valerie Hanks and Kim McKenzie have painted the signs at home. The inspirational messages and cheerful colors and designs are a welcome respite. AIM invites people to create their own messages of gratitude or support and use the hashtag#uabmedicineheroes to share them on social media.

When I think of the staff I know all over UAB Hospital from Guest Services to the Maintenance crew, to EVS, to the medical teams I wish so much I could be there to help, Vander Kamp said. Since being there would not help, sending support and love and color through artwork on posters hopefully will. I am awed by how hard these people work in typical times. I can only imagine how much they are doing now. A poster saying thank you seems the least I could do.

I so miss working side by side with staff, day to day, to care for UABs patients, Taylor said. We want the whole of UAB hospitals staff to know that were thinking of them and that we support them during this scary, difficult time. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I hope these simple signs will not only brighten days for all who see them, but also show that we are thinking of them and holding them up the best way we know how.

How can we best convey unified messages of thankfulness, gratitude and adoration for every staff person serving our community through selfless hours of kindness, hard work and dedication to thousands of individuals? Hanks said. Through simple, yet colorful graphics, I was inspired to shout out these messages on visuals to remind staff of our continued prayers, love and support that flow constant every single day! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Always remember we are here cheering you on!

I am beyond proud to be part of a community that continues to offer comfort and support inside the hospital no matter what, Black said. I hope every staff person feels appreciated and loved when looking at our poster-sized love letters.

With each of these posters, I hope the UAB staff feels the love and support we are sending from the outside, Taylor said. It pains us not to be available to help more during this time when the staff needs it the most. We hope the simple acts bring you joy and peace.

Through a collaboration with the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center and UAB Medicine,UAB Hospital isone of thefirst hospitals in Alabama to have a formal Arts in Medicine program.AIMfocuses on the needs of the whole person: mind, body and spirit. AIM includes both interactive and passive arts experiences, which can include bedside and workshop activities, or performances and visual art installations in public spaces.

Research on thearts and health has indicated that arts programs may boost the moods of patients and their families by reducing perceived pain, anxiety and stress. In turn, that could contribute to a reduction in medication use, a quicker recovery and a shorter hospital stay.

AIM offers programs inpainting,drawing,sewing,storytelling, theater, writing, music, guided meditation, anddance and movement, and its artists-in-residenceare able to tailor programs to individual specific needs.

Originally posted here:

Arts in Medicine creates signs of support for UAB Medicine heroes - UAB News

As we all are learning to cope with our current, ever-changing new normal I want to offer some musings and things I have learned through this coronavirus pandemic crisis. It is my sincerest hope that as you read this column, you, too, are overcome with love and compassion for our collective, human and animal suffering and rebounding resilience.

Veterinary medicine has always been touted as a career for animal lovers. However, anyone who remains in the field knows that to be successful one must enjoy interacting with people. After all, pets are always accompanied by their owners.

One of the things I have always loved about general practice is the ability to develop bonds not only with my patients but also their families. I enjoy hearing about the familys joys and triumphs. I have always tried to focus my interactions not only on presenting facts, guidance, and honesty; but also through a lens compassion and understanding for the family.

COVID 19 has shown me that I never realized how much I would miss these interactions until I couldnt be there for my clients in person.

I never realized how much I would miss being able to hug a client during a euthanasia or when were trying to make a difficult decision.

I miss being able to introduce myself to new clients by shaking their hand and inviting them into the exam room.

I miss being able to spend time in the exam room with clients talking them through my exam findings in real time. I miss helping seniors carry their pets to their cars. I even miss letting kids use my stethoscope to listen to their pets heartbeats.

Because at the end of the day yes my job is to do medicine, it is to be a veterinarian. But the best part of my job has, and always will be, interacting with clients and their pets.

The best part is that I get to help maintain and foster a deeper human animal bond through teaching the importance of what were trying to do.

Please know that our curbside check-ins and the way we are structuring appointments is to maintain public health and safety.

However, we feel the absence and change too. May we never take for granted again the power of a hug, a handshake and in-person conversation. I, for one, never will again.

Danielle Carey, a doctor of veterinary medicine, is an associate veterinarian at the Animal Clinic of Walla Walla.

See the article here:

Scope of veterinary medicine embraces animals and their people - Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

Fifty years ago this week, the U.S. Indian Health Service was looking at doing something it had never done before setting up a program to help train new medicine men. IHS officials said they were in discussions with the tribe and leading medicine men to see if such a program could be implemented on the Navajo Reservation much like the program that already existed to train doctors to serve in the U.S.

Public Health Service and in rural areas. Under that program, the federal government agreed to pay the tuition for medical school if the student agreed to serve five years in the Public Health Service or in a rural area. The PHS had been having a difficult time recruiting doctors because of the Vietnam War. The same situation existed within the IHS, which had been having problems for years recruiting doctors to serve in Gallup, much less in places like Tuba City and Crownpoint.

By giving them a break on their education costs, the IHS hoped that after a few years practicing medicine on the Navajo Reservation, they would decide to make this their permanent home.

That philosophy worked in a few cases but it wasnt until the Navajo Area office began encouraging Navajos to go to medical school and agreed to help with expenses that the program took off. Exactly how the IHS got the idea to get involved in training medicine men is not known but by 1970 there was already talk of an upcoming shortage of traditional practitioners as more young Navajos opted to get a regular 8-to-5 job.

Medicine man was a prestigious occupation in the first half of the 20th century when there were few jobs and most Navajos made a living raising sheep. After World War II ended and tribal leaders started encouraging young members to get a college education, the luster of being a medicine man seemed to wear off. Former Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald talked about a time in his life when he considered becoming a medicine man.

But after joining the Marines, he went on to college to study electrical engineering. Over the next 50 years, the Navajo Times would print numerous articles about the problem of getting young Navajos to become medicine men. The first obstacle was the training, which often took years of working with an experienced medicine man and becoming his apprentice.

Since there were a lot of ceremonies, each one required going over the words and protocols over and over again until you had it down to the satisfaction of your mentor. And then there was the financial aspect of the job. Unlike doctors, who made an above-average living, the Times learned that no medicine man made a fortune.

In fact, even the most popular medicine men on the reservation made not much more than a schoolteacher. And while there was a structure of sorts connected, one did not become a medicine man to become rich with each ceremony.

There were times when the family needing the ceremony would only be able to pay by other means, such as with sheep or jewelry. One of the aspects of the education process mentioned in the Navajo Times articles was that this was not an education one could get on their own. There were no books or tape recordings a student could study.

He had to attach himself to a master medicine man and attend ceremony after ceremony, memorizing the words and techniques. Another thing to factor in was reputation. Like in the world of doctors, some medicine men had better reputations than others; also, families became accustomed to going to one medicine man and they sought him out, making it harder for new medicine men to find clients.

This latter was resolved to some extant by the fact that many Navajo families scheduled ceremonies for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays so their children in college could attend when they came home. The demand for medicine men during those times became so great that even young medicine men had no problem finding work.

The Times published a story in the 1980s about concerns from officials of the Navajo Medicinemens Association after they heard reports that some of the newer members of their profession had shortened the length of some of the ceremonies. They called this a very serious problem because the shorter ceremonies were not considered to be as effective as the ones that had been around for generations.

Another problem that greatly affected the number of new medicine men who entered the profession was the fact that many experienced medicine men didnt want to train an apprentice. Not only was it hard work for little pay, they didnt see any benefit to train someone who eventually would be trying to get their clients. That was one of the benefits of the program the IHS would finally establish.

Not only did the prospective student get a stipend each month but so would the medicine man. When the program started, the stipend was $390 a month but it was later increased to $500 in certain situations.

The program also took into account the type of ceremonies the student would be taught. Special emphasis was placed on learning ceremonies that were being offered by only a couple of medicine men so the ceremonies would not be forever lost. The IHS program lasted several years and was eventually taken over by the tribe.

Related

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50 Years Ago: IHS begins program to train medicine men - Navajo Times

After almost a month of social distancing, it is difficult to imagine attending a concert. Throwing yourself in a crowd of thousands for the sole purpose of entertainment without worries for your health seems like a distant memory. Thankfully, current media technology has allowed for the arts to be shared with miles in between each audience member, something that communities wouldnt have had a decade ago. Popular artists have been using Instagram Live and daily YouTube uploads to keep their fans entertained. Broadway.com live-streamed a reading of Lips Together, Teeth Apart. Cirque du Soleil has been broadcasting 60-minute specials with highlights from their various shows.

Unfortunately, when you turn on your TV, the first thing you hear is news coverage on the pandemic. With stories about the influx of cases, it is easy to get lost in the medical world. However, there is no rule that states that STEM fields must be separate from the arts and that practitioners cannot engage in creative expression. The Medicine & the Muse Program at Stanford Medicine created the [emailprotected] concert series in late March to converge the worlds of medicine and humanities in front of a virtual audience. The organization is dedicated to continuing this event every week on Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. until the shelter-in-place order in the state of California terminates.

I had the fortune to watch the second [emailprotected] concert aired on April 2. Bryant Lin, a clinical associate professor of primary care and population health, served as the emcee for the entire hour. When asked for his reflection on the series, Lin reflected that [he] was inspired to help start the concert series out of a desire to forge closer human connections during a time when we all have to stay apart. He is amazed by the depth of sharing, warmth and talent in [the] community.

He started off the event by introducing Jacqueline Genovese, the executive director of The Medicine and The Muse Program. She thanked all the medical professionals working on the frontline of the pandemic, acknowledging that this is a difficult time for our community, our country and the world as a whole.

We believe in the strength of music and community to bring healing, Genovese stated as she smiled into the camera. She also commended Lin for being an enthusiastic host, joking lightheartedly that he could rival the famed Ryan Seacrest.

Before starting the program, Lin encouraged the audience to utilize the chat function on Zoom to send in comments and applaud the performers. An unfortunate instance of Zoombombing during the first performance, however, required that Lin and Genovese close the chat for all but the select cohort of performers, reminding those watching live of the importance of kindness and empathy in these trying times.

The concert opened with Matias Bruzoni, a pediatric surgeon, and Rajashree Koppolu, a nurse practitioner with pediatric general surgery, performing a medley of Im on Fire by Bruce Springsteen and Walkaway Joe by Trisha Yearwood. As part of their introduction, Lin asked the duo what has surprised them during this challenging time. Koppolu expressed that its been refreshing and wonderful to reconnect with good friends and family from around the country, while Bruzoni emphasized the impact of these times, adding that music is a good excuse. Weve been playing a lot of music ourselves its a good vent.

This passion for music was clearly exemplified the second that they began performing. As Bruzoni began playing the piano, Koppulus voice cut through the audio of Zoom as her relaxing tone enraptured the audience. The clearness of her voice contrasted so beautifully with the raspy nature of Bruzonis harmony, elevating the dynamic of the piece.

These harmonies were rivaled by Steve Goodman, the associate dean for the School of Medicine, and his son, Eli Goodman 21. In their introductions, Lin stated that Goodman has performed in numerous Bay Area productions and has sung the national anthem for the San Francisco Giants and the Golden State Warriors. This musical talent was not lost in Eli, who is a member of the Stanford a cappella group the Mendicants. The pair performed Brother Can You Spare a Dime, which, as Goodman explained, was the anthem for the unemployed during the Great Depression. As they sang, it was so interesting to listen to the difference in style. Goodman exemplified strong, classical training while Eli had a more contemporary tone (as you would expect of someone in the Mendicants). However, when they sang in unison, it was as if one person was performing.

Following performances by Anita Honiken, Alyssa Burgart, Laurel Braitman, Han Zhu, Jonathan Chen, Dan Li, Paramesh Gopi and his children and Tamara Dunn all exemplified the diverse range of musical talent within Stanford Medicine. There were elements within every performance that related back to the current stress of the pandemic, and these individuals spoke to their audience through their artistic mediums to virtually reassure everyone. In reciting the poem The Weighing by Jane Hirshfield, Laurel Braitman mused, the world asks of us only the strength we have and we give it. Then it asks more and we give it. These were not originally words written by her, but Braitman took them and made them her own with her delivery and audible silences.

Dan Lis performance of Drunken Man by Ruan Ji on the Guqin (a seven-stringed zither) was a form of music that you dont hear every day. The melodies were not what you would call conventionally pretty, but there was something about the chord structure and the form of the song that makes it so unique. There were no patterns that you could infer. As with current times, you had to take the piece as it came and allow yourself to relinquish a little bit of control over your musical expectations.

Another moment that stood out was Paramesh Gopi singing an Indian healing prayer with his entire family. After a stunning rendition of Rise Up by Andra Day performed by his children Kaanchana and Shankaran, the Gopi family crowded around a keyboard to perform said prayer. Prior to the performance, they explained that the prayer was historically used to deliver communities from disease. It was so heartwarming to visualize these individuals coming together to gather their hopes towards a common cause.

The event concluded with a sing-along, an idea crafted by Paul Wang, who acknowledged that in these uncertain times, it is important for all of us to come together as a community. What better way to join together than in song a sing-along. We all felt a bit closer. This part was led by Tamara Dunn, a clinical assistant professor in hematology and program director for hematology fellowship. She sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow, powerfully belting the well-known melody and taking liberties with the tempo of the piece. She added her own special take on the piece by including dips and soaring high notes as well as intentionally getting softer and concentrating the nostalgic tune into a definite close.

In a conversation afterward with Genovese, she remarked that as a non-clinician who works with so many wonderful physicians and medical students, I feel a bit helpless as our medical professionals go in every day and face the enormity of this pandemic. To be able to create community and bring musical joy to the medical community and others, and to provide a space and shine a light on our talented medical students, residents, doctors and staff, especially in such uncertain times, makes me feel just a little less helpless.

While there will undoubtedly be technical interruptions that come from conducting a Zoom concert, the [emailprotected] series has proven that no matter where you are and no matter how many years of experience you have, art is always something you can indulge in. No one knows for certain how much longer this pandemic will last, but this does not mean that each day must be faced with negativity. Creative expression provides an outlet and a method of community contribution for everyone, even if your career is not in the arts. Just as evolving media technology has been shaping the way that we learn, it can also shape the way that we entertain and the way that art is delivered and created.

As stated before, the [emailprotected] series will be every Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. PT until the shelter-in-place order ends. The next concert will be aired on April 9, 2020 (today) at 5:30 p.m. PT. Visit http://med.stanford.edu/medicineandthemuse.html for the Zoom link to attend.

If you are interested in performing in the series, please contact Jacqueline Genovese at [emailprotected].

Contact Chloe Chow at chloe23 at stanford.edu.

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Stanford Medicine's 'Stuck@Home' series closes the distance between medicine and art despite social distancing - The Stanford Daily

Most wholesalers are in Sadashiv Peth; association asks shops to stock for a month. Police say bulk supply will be allowed, but storage units should be moved out of the cityThe effects of a more stringent lockdown in the heart of the city have led to a disruption in the supply of medicines to pharmaceutical stores across Pune. Despite these items falling into the essential category, wholesalers are unable to move stocks smoothly out of the Peth areas amid curfew, to deliver to stores.

Now, Chemists Association members have demanded that retailers stock up on medicines for a month and asked that wholesale supply be made available to them. While cops have said theyll facilitate movement, they also asked chemists to relocate their storage spaces for bulk inventory to the outskirts, to avoid crowding.

After PMC sealed several city areas on Monday, the Peths have been very difficult to move in and out of for delivery agents (inset). Chemists in various city areas now fear they are set to run out of of medicines and other health items like sanitary napkins

In this process, Sadashiv Peth has also been sealed off. Since most wholesale chemist stores are located here, they are now finding it difficult to supply medicines as per demand to retailers, resulting in a shortage of medicines at shops across the city.

Preferring to stay unnamed, the owner of Sai Medicals based in Hadapsar shared, Procuring medicines was already difficult due to the lockdown. With this curfew, our delivery boys are now not even able to cross Swargate. Since wholesale shops are in Sadashiv Peth, it has become impossible to get anything. Slowly, we are running out of stock.

With medicines, several other essential health products like sanitary napkins are also elusive. From Sinhagad Road, Chetan Sharma of Chetan Medicals, added, There is lot of confusion in this lockdown. So, many delivery staffers also refused to turn up. There are barricades in several areas. But, we have managed to send our delivery agents to get the required material today. Tomorrow is another story. We are already facing a shortage of supply by 10 per cent.

Meanwhile, wholesalers are struggling to keep up with orders, as police barricades have sealed off all lanes to halt vehicular movement. Next door, Shaniwar Peth and parts of Kasba Peth are also sealed. Considering this, association members have requested all chemists to stock up, so that they will not face issues in coming weeks. Anil Belkar, secretary, Chemists Association, said, Normally, we get as per needs and those amounts are sup-plied. For now, doctors are also asking many patients to continue with the same medication, so demand is measurable. But, chemists need to take a round up and stock for the next 15 days or a month. Delivery boys are reluctant, so supply will get hampered.

Cops have advised chemists to change storage locations. Joint commissioner of police (CP) for Pune city, Ravindra Shisve, clarified, Association members are constantly in touch with our DCPs. We will decide timings for vehicular movement and facilitate only bulk supply. We are also advising chemists to opt for storage for this supply in the outskirts, so that there is minimal human movement in the containment zone. In the given situation, reducing this movement is the need of the hour.

Link:

Curfew in Peths affects medicine supply to city - Pune Mirror

Center for Applied Health Research on Aging, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois (M.S.W., L.O., R.M.O., L.M.C., J.Y.B., G.W., S.B., M.E., P.Z., A.R., M.A., S.C.B.)

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (M.S.)

Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois (D.L., M.K., S.D.P., T.R., J.A.L.)

Grant Support: By grants R01AG030611, R01AG046352, R01DK110172, and R01NR015444 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Disclosures: Dr. Wolf reports grants from the NIH during the conduct of the study; grants from Merck, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the NIH, and Eli Lilly outside the submitted work; and personal fees from Sanofi, Pfizer, and Luto outside the submitted work. Dr. Serper reports personal fees from BioVie outside the submitted work. Ms. Batio reports grants from the NIH during the conduct of the study. Dr. Ladner reports grants from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases during the conduct of the study. Dr. Persell reports grants from Omron Healthcare and Pfizer outside the submitted work. Dr. Bailey reports grants from the NIH during the conduct of the study; grants from Merck, the NIH, and Eli Lilly outside the submitted work; grants and personal fees from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation outside the submitted work; and personal fees from Sanofi, Pfizer, and Luto outside the submitted work. Authors not named here have disclosed no conflicts of interest. Disclosures can also be viewed at http://www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M20-1239.

Editors' Disclosures: Christine Laine, MD, MPH, Editor in Chief, reports that her spouse has stock options/holdings with Targeted Diagnostics and Therapeutics. Darren B. Taichman, MD, PhD, Executive Editor, reports that he has no financial relationships or interests to disclose. Cynthia D. Mulrow, MD, MSc, Senior Deputy Editor, reports that she has no relationships or interests to disclose. Jaya K. Rao, MD, MHS, Deputy Editor, reports that she has stock holdings/options in Eli Lilly and Pfizer. Christina C. Wee, MD, MPH, Deputy Editor, reports employment with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Sankey V. Williams, MD, Deputy Editor, reports that he has no financial relationships or interests to disclose. Yu-Xiao Yang, MD, MSCE, Deputy Editor, reports that he has no financial relationships or interest to disclose.

Reproducible Research Statement: Study protocol and statistical code: Available from Dr. Wolf (e-mail, mswolf@northwestern.edu). Data set: Available to those who meet prespecified criteria; access allowed to deidentified data only. Available from Dr. Wolf (e-mail, mswolf@northwestern.edu).

Corresponding Author: Michael S. Wolf, PhD, MPH, MA, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 750 North Lake Shore Drive, 10th Floor, Chicago, IL 60611; e-mail, mswolf@northwestern.edu.

Current Author Addresses: Drs. Wolf, O'Conor, Arvanitis, Persell, Rowe, Linder, and Bailey; Ms. Opsasnick; Ms. Curtis; Ms. Benavente; Ms. Wismer; Ms. Batio; Ms. Eifler; Ms. Zheng; and Ms. Russell: Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 750 North Lake Shore Drive, 10th Floor, Chicago, IL 60611.

Dr. Serper: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, 2 Dulles, Philadelphia, PA 19104.

Dr. Ladner: Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 676 North Saint Clair Street, Suite 1900, Chicago, IL 60611.

Dr. Kwasny: Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 680 North Lake Shore Drive, Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60611.

Author Contributions: Conception and design: M.S. Wolf, M. Serper, L. Opsasnick, L.M. Curtis, J.Y. Benavente, G. Wismer, D. Ladner, T. Rowe, J.A. Linder, S.C. Bailey.

Analysis and interpretation of the data: M.S. Wolf, M. Serper, L. Opsasnick, R.M. O'Conor, L.M. Curtis, S. Batio, A. Russell, M. Arvanitis, D. Ladner, J.A. Linder, S.C. Bailey.

Drafting of the article: M.S. Wolf, L. Opsasnick, A. Russell, M. Arvanitis, J.A. Linder, S.C. Bailey.

Critical revision of the article for important intellectual content: M.S. Wolf, M. Serper, R.M. O'Conor, L.M. Curtis, D. Ladner, S.D. Persell, T. Rowe, J.A. Linder, S.C. Bailey.

Final approval of the article: M.S. Wolf, M. Serper, L. Opsasnick, R.M. O'Conor, L.M. Curtis, J.Y. Benavente, G. Wismer, S. Batio, M. Eifler, P. Zheng, A. Russell, M. Arvanitis, D. Ladner, M. Kwasny, S.D. Persell, T. Rowe, J.A. Linder, S.C. Bailey.

Provision of study materials or patients: M.S. Wolf, J.Y. Benavente, P. Zheng, D. Ladner.

Statistical expertise: M.S. Wolf, L. Opsasnick, L.M. Curtis, M. Kwasny, J.A. Linder.

Obtaining of funding: M.S. Wolf, D. Ladner, S.C. Bailey.

Administrative, technical, or logistic support: M.S. Wolf, R.M. O'Conor, J.Y. Benavente, G. Wismer, M. Eifler, P. Zheng, S.C. Bailey.

Collection and assembly of data: M.S. Wolf, L. Opsasnick, G. Wismer, M. Eifler, P. Zheng, A. Russell, D. Ladner.

See original here:

Awareness, Attitudes, and Actions Related to COVID-19 - Annals of Internal Medicine

Dusti Rhodes has wondered who decides when its OK to laugh at a bad situation.

The Houston comedian and high school teacher said people dont always know when theyre allowed to chuckle at something, especially a collective hardship like COVID-19.

On a conference call with her fellow teachers, Rhodes was surprised when one co-worker announced she let herself watch a comedy. Rhodes said people feel an invisible social obligation to not laugh during this time.

But thats silly.

When the city went on an effective lockdown, Rhodes braced herself for terrible and cheap jokes. They came in every format internet memes mostly and many were cringe-worthy.

But they did make her laugh. And laughing makes her feel better. She realized everybody decides for themselves when theyre comfortable making light of a situation, and it almost always helps to just laugh it out.

When you choose to start making jokes, its how you deal with it; youre able to dismiss the sad feelings you have about it and it makes it a little easier, said Rhodes, 38. Youre not dismissing the terribleness of that news. But you have to laugh.

And laughing has both short-term and long-term benefits for our mental and physical health, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Short-term effects can include the stimulation of organs, like your lungs, heart and core muscles. Laughter can also trigger an endorphin release, which can lead to relief in our stress responses, muscle relaxation and lowered tension.

Studies have shown daily laughter can lead to an improved immune system and overall pain relief. Giggles big and small can help alleviate varying levels of depression, according to the clinic.

Rhodes type of comedy is personal. Its usually about me and the awkwardness of my life, but its not self-deprecation, she said.

Her style is telling a relatable story, from awkward dates to weird sex to growing up ugly. Her goal is for every night on stage to end in mutual laughs.

When the world isnt in a pandemic, she runs Rudyards Open Mic Comedy Night every Monday and has a regular show at The Secret Group in East Downtown, a venue she calls her home club.

Rhodes had plans to record her first comedy album for Sure Thing Records in Austin this month. She postponed the recording date for one reason: she needs an audience to tell jokes.

The strange thing about comedy that is different from being a singer or a band in a music studio is that (for them), it doesnt matter if theres not an audience there, she said. Its awkward if a comedian is telling jokes and theres not an audience there to laugh.

Kevin Cotter will host his Laughter Workout class on Zoom every Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Zoom details:https://us04web.zoom.us/j/738801156

Meeting ID: 738 801 156

Rebecca Fiszer, 54, considers herself a pretty well-adjusted loner. She has an 11-year-old miniature schnauzer named Harley and enjoys quiet time after a days work at a Houston law firm.

But since Fiszer began working from home last month, she realized she misses the sound of one of her co-workers buoyant laughter. Every time he laughed in his office, Fiszer would overhear it and begin laughing herself. She misses it so much that she asked him to record it and send it to her, so she could listen from home.

This is a different level of being alone, Fiszer said. When you go to a store, youre still forced into social interaction. But in this situation, all that is being cut out. Im struggling, too. I need to see somebody.

Last week, Fiszer joined Kevin Cotters Laughter Workout class via Zoom.

Cotter teaches laughter as a form of mental and physical fitness; its akin to laughter yoga, an exercise in laughing developed by Dr. Madan Kataria in India. Kataria found that our bodies dont differentiate between genuine laughter and fake laughter, and our brains release feel-good chemicals like serotonin and dopamine regardless.

Laughter exercises help oxygenate the body and brain due to deep breathing practices and spread contagious laughter and childlike playfulness, according to LaughterYoga.org. It also lowers the presence of cortisol, a hormone that causes stress in our bodies.

Cotter found laughter yoga early in his treatment for clinical depression six years ago. Knowing his background as a class clown, his therapist recommended he try it.

He began teaching in assisted-living facilities and nursing homes, and found that older people need an extra push to laugh again.

The class is broken down into a series of laughs, like the Yee-Haw and Santa Claus.

Were in Texas, so we dont say Aloha here; we say Yee-Haw. We say YEEEE-Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, Cotter said as he starts tall and bends down to holler the ha-has.

For the Santa Claus laugh, Cotter put his hand on his stomach and bellowed out Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho, much faster than a typical Santa.

Once he teaches students how to perform the laughs, they laugh in rapid succession, switching from one to the other.

Even though the laughs start artificially, they quickly become real, he said. People feel ridiculous at first, but then they lose the self-consciousness and feel good.

Sound far-fetched? He thought so, too. But he cant argue with the results.

Fiszer said she felt lighter at the end of class, a feeling she had forgotten in the past few weeks.

Watching or hearing anything funny just does make you feel better. It takes your mind off things, she said. I do think its contagious.

julie.garcia@chron.com

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Laugh it off. It might just be the best medicine to battle the coronavirus. - Houston Chronicle

EU institutions are on lockdown and, while politics goes online, those with medical training are heading to the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I'm working again as a medical doctor in a private practice where I practised until the end of 2002 so it's quite a long time ago," German MEP Peter Liese told Euronews over Skype.

He gives a quick sweep of the room to show the medical equipment at the cabinet practice in Germany, where, he explains, he does the 'easy stuff', such as taking blood samples.

Another former doctor and MEP is Chrysoula Zacharopoulou from France. These days she is working at a military hospital near Paris. Seeing the crisis up close, gives her some perspective on the EU's response.

"In the face of such a huge sanitary crisis, it's normal that we didn't have the right answer at the start. But now, I think, the Commission, the institutions, using modern technology, have stepped up to the plate. I think that we do see European solidarity."

Having a medical background has helped these MEPs see what is needed to protect public health, across borders. Peter Liese says he had already encouraged the Commission to create a contact point where all hospitals that still have capacity could be registered when they are ready to accept patients from abroad.

Both doctors are reluctant to say when life can go back to normal. They acknowledge that lockdowns are difficult for everyone, but emphasise the need to stay put a little bit longer.

"Let's be humble and patient. Let's respect the instructions and stay and home - out of respect for care-givers, for ourselves and society," insists Zacharopoulou.

Originally posted here:

Meet the MEPs returning to medicine amid the coronavirus pandemic - Euronews

On Wednesday, The Daily Wire spoke with Dr. Zachary Blankenship, DO, a fourth year Emergency Medicine resident physician working at St. Barnabas Hospital in The Bronx, New York City, the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

As of publication, New York City has just over 19% of total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States, and nearly 32% of deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) Global Cases map.

[NOTE: The observations/opinions expressed below are that of one doctor in one hospital, and while indicative of what this physician is seeing on the ground in the hospital in which he works, nothing in this interview should be taken as necessarily representative of the experiences of other doctors in other hospitals in New York City and throughout the nation.]

DW: What did you see before on a normal day versus a day during this pandemic?

BLANKENSHIP: The emergency room is always a grab bag. Our specialty consists of really anything and everything that could come through the door. You have a mix of the sickest people youve ever seen in your life, and sometimes you have people who are not so sick, or have more minor ailments, and our job is to figure out which is which, whos who, and where people need to go. Do they need to go to surgery? Do they need to be admitted to the hospital? Can they go home? So, it was just much more of a mix of highs and lows.

Now, what were seeing is everybody is sick. Our ER still has a small area thats dedicated to right now treating people who are coming for non-coronavirus related issues. That section may be a little bit more of business as usual, but thats a small fraction of the patients who are coming in.

What Im seeing now is people who are much, much, much sicker. And every once in a while, I have somebody who is well enough to go home and self-quarantine. Then of course, we give those people what we call return precautions, saying, If this happens, come back to the hospital, or If this happens, call911.

DW: When youre seeing COVID-19 cases on the floor now, what is that like? Whats the procedure when a suspected COVID case comes in?

BLANKENSHIP: Everybody who is suspected COVID is placed in our section for COVID patients because the test doesnt come back immediately, and we presume that they have it. One thing that were doing is were getting a chest X-ray on people as soon as they come in the door. These people all have viral pneumonia, and so were basically judging off of that chest X-ray.

The main thing in resuscitation, the first thing is always airway, breathing, circulation and pretty much all of these people have difficulty breathing. So then we have to decide how we are going to take care of that. Some people can use whats called a nasal cannula, which is the two prongs that go in your nose. Some people require a mask, which is called a non-rebreather. Its the clear mask that has a bag attached to it. Then the sickest of the sickest actually get intubated and put on a ventilator.

DW: Whats the intubation process like?

BLANKENSHIP: The intubation process involves a lot of setup, getting all your equipment ready all around the bedside doctors and nurses, a respiratory therapist, all of the bedside ready to go. You administer medication. Typically, youll do one medication for sedation and one medication for paralysis. Then you insert the endotracheal tube and confirm that with your physical exam and with a chest X-ray. Then you attach the ventilator to the endotracheal tube.

Weve been doing a lot of whats called video-assisted intubation. We have a machine where the blade that youre putting in someones mouth to look at their airway actually has a fiber optic camera attached to it so you can better visualize what youre doing.

DW: From a patient perspective, once one has been intubated, are you kept under after the process is completed?

BLANKENSHIP: You are kept sedated because the procedure can be pretty uncomfortable. On TV, they use the term medically-induced coma. So, youre giving people a combination of pain medication and sedating medication so that they are out of it, that theyre unaware of whats going on, and theyre not responsive to the interventions that youre doing. We dont say medically-induced coma, we just say the patient is sedated.

DW: What are you seeing as it pertains to intubated patients? Are a majority of your intubated patients recovering?

BLANKENSHIP: I would say the majority, as far as I can tell and keep in mind this is not epidemiologic data, these are the observations of one doctor at one hospital. What I have seen is typically the patients who are so sick that they require intubation dont end up doing well, and Ive had many patients die on the ventilator. It seems to me that the patients who are able to get by without being intubated are the ones who are going to make it. That being said, I just heard this morning on one of our conference calls that weve had five patients recently who were able to be extubated and discharged, which is good to hear.

DW: How is this different than the flu, and why should it be taken more seriously?

BLANKENSHIP: Whats frustrating about it is that the flu happens every year, it kills thousands of people, and nobody seems to take it seriously. We cant convince people to get flu shots. We cant convince people to self-medicate as far as getting rest and hydration, and taking Tylenol or Motrin for their fever.

This, though, is not the flu. The flus course is much more predictable. You get sick people over a much longer time period, so that the capacity for our hospitals, our resource limits, are not strained in the way that they are now.

The other thing about the flu is that even though it can affect people in different ways as far as having respiratory symptoms, as far as having GI symptoms, the severity is just not as bad. Whereas the patients that Ive been seeing here in the ER, I was really surprised at just how sick these patients are. And its not simply people with a little cough, a little fever. Its people who are really, critically ill.

These patients have respiratory failure requiring oxygen. Most of the flu patients I see do not require oxygen. Ive seen a lot of heart failure. Ive seen a lot of heart attacks. And I believe theres some evidence that the virus directly affects your heart rather than the heart failure being secondary to respiratory failure. All of my patients have deranged laboratory values, like abnormal electrolytes, kidney failure, liver failure.

There seems to be some effect on your bloods ability to clot and break down clots, which is at a constant balance. And so Ive seen a ton of people who have blood clots. Theyre getting blood clots in the brain, which we call a stroke, blood clots in the heart, or a heart attack. Ive seen people with blood clots in the leg, too. Ive also seen patients with bleeding, gastrointestinal bleeding, blood in the urine.

DW: And these are all COVID cases?

BLANKENSHIP: These are all COVID cases. So, these people are being affected almost from head to toe. Multiple organ systems are all being affected by COVID. And dont get me wrong, there are plenty of people who are getting it, staying at home for 14 days, theyre sick for a few days, and then they feel just fine and they do okay but the ones who are truly sick are much sicker than any flu patient Ive ever seen.

DW: Do you have enough PPE, or are you struggling with supplies?

BLANKENSHIP: Were good. Our hospital has taken good care of us. I think weve also received some private donations. Were not worried about that at all.

DW: Hows the situation with capacity, specifically as it pertains to ventilator access?

BLANKENSHIP: We did have an influx of ventilators. We were able to increase our supply, and we have used most of them. But capacity has been actually improving. This week I worked five nights in a row, and it definitely got better as I went on through the nights as far as number of patients.

DW: What is your stress level like? How has this impacted you as a physician?

BLANKENSHIP: It goes back and forth because as an emergency medicine physician, this is what we were trained for, and weve always seen the sickest of the sick. So there are times when Im in the middle of a shift and Im just working, working, working, I dont really have time to think about the bigger picture, and then maybe you get a little lull and you start to think, Wow, this is really crazy. Sometimes Im more negative and feeling extremely stressed, and then other times I feel more positive and think, At least Im doing something. And the camaraderie between staff has been very good, very high, really supporting each other. So, its good to know youve got other people, and that other people have your back.

DW: How is this impacting your colleagues? How do you see this impacting their behavior or their stress levels?

BLANKENSHIP: It varies from person to person. I think the stress level is definitely higher than baseline. Thats hard to say. I think well know when this is over really just how much people have been affected. But right now, its almost like we dont have time to be stressed because theres so much to be done.

DW: What would you say to those who are downplaying the impact of COVID?

BLANKENSHIP: Please dont. Please dont. That has been one of my big frustrations. Maybe this is some sort of denial. Maybe people are trying to protect themselves because they dont want to face that. Downplaying it doesnt just hurt you, it hurts everybody youve come into contact with. It hurts people who are older than you. It hurts people who are baseline sicker than you. I think its selfish.

DW: We just saw a predicted drop in deaths on the IHME model to approximately 60,400 on the low end, and ICU bed need down to 19,400 or so. Do you think we are effectively flattening the curve?

BLANKENSHIP: That is really hard to say. So much of that depends on where you are because I think there are places that still havent been fully impacted yet. Are we effectively flattening the curve? For starters, we definitely werent at the beginning of this, right? We had months to prepare for this, and we pretty much did nothing. We were told over and over again, Dont worry about it. So I think at the beginning, no, we did not effectively flatten the curve. However, our interventions, our social interventions, made a difference. Now, I think time will tell.

DW: To those who say that if the curve is flattening, its because COVID-19 wasnt a big deal to begin with, what would you say?

BLANKENSHIP: I would say youre wrong. The people who are going to say that are not the ones who have just lost a parent or lost a grandparent. Because for those people, it was as bad as we said it was going to be. With something like this, if you over-prepare and things do end up being not as bad as they said it was going to be, thats a good thing. Thats a good thing to take precautions and save lives. Whats not good is a sense of complacency or not doing anything, and then having the alternative happen, where far too many people die.

DW: Is there something that we havent touched on in this interview that you would want our readership to know about this whole situation?

BLANKENSHIP: I would just say to please think about others. Please think about how your individual actions are affecting others. Think about what you can do to make the situation better. And I know everyones heard it a million times, but please stay home, if you can limit the number of times you leave your home. Ive just seen and heard from far too many people who are still going everywhere they want to go and doing everything they want to do, and think of this whole situation as some big inconvenience to them personally. So, please stay home. And if you have to go out for any reason hopefully its a good reason take precautions. Do the things that you know youre supposed to do.

I dont want to be too negative, but I have just seen so many people die in the last week. Ive seen people who are so sick, and were doing everything we possibly can, and they still die. And so even though I know Im helping a lot of people, I still felt like I needed to do something else, which is why I made that video when I came home the other morning because my family back in Oklahoma, and my friends in Oklahoma, they just dont get it. I think that, I dont know, maybe the news somehow isnt real enough to people. So maybe if they see my face and hear my voice, then maybe itll become real for them.

[The above reference: Dr. Blankenship posted a video to his Facebook on April 7 in which he asked that people stay home, and explained what he is seeing in a daily basis in the emergency room as it relates to COVID-19.]

And I think that if it never really makes it out to certain places, or they end up having a much lower death toll than predicted, then thats wonderful. It means weve done something right. After the fact, they shouldnt then turn around and say, Oh look, this whole thing was some big hoax. Because for 1.4 million people, it has not been a hoax.

The Daily Wire would like to thank Dr. Blankenship for taking the time to speak about this important issue in this critical time. For information pertaining to the current COVID-19 numbers in the United States, as well as the rest of the world, check out the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) Global Cases map here.

More here:

INTERVIEW: Emergency Medicine Doc In NYC Talks COVID-19, How It's Different Than The Flu, And What He's Seeing On The Ground - The Daily Wire

BOSTON (AP) Neil Diamond posts a fireside rendition of Sweet Caroline with its familiar lyrics tweaked to say, Hands ... washing hands.

A news anchor asks when social distancing will end because my husband keeps trying to get into the house.

And a sign outside a neighbourhood church reads: Had not planned on giving up quite this much for Lent.

Are we allowed to chuckle yet? Wed better, psychologists and humourists say.

Laughter can be the best medicine, they argue, so long as its within the bounds of good taste.

And in a crisis, it can be a powerful coping mechanism.

Its more than just medicine, its survival, said Erica Rhodes, a Los Angeles comedian.

Even during the Holocaust, people told jokes, Rhodes said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Laughter is a symbol of hope, and it becomes one of our greatest needs of life, right up there with toilet paper.

Its a physical need people have. You cant underestimate how it heals people and gives them hope.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

Those are scary words and scary prospects.

But, history has shown that its heaviest moments are often leavened by using humour and laughter as conscious choices ways to cope when other things arent working as expected.

Theres so much fear and horror out there. All the hand washing in the world isnt going to clear up your head, said Loretta LaRoche, a suburban Boston stress management consultant whos using humour to help people defuse the anxiety the pandemic has wrought.

Some people will say this is not a time for laughter. The bottom line is, there is always a time for laughter, LaRoche said.

We have 60,000 thoughts a day and many of them are very disturbing. Laughter helps the brain relax.

That explains why social media feeds are peppered with coronavirus-themed memes, cartoons and amusing personal anecdotes.HeresDiamond posting a videoof himself singing Sweet Caroline with the lyrics altered to say: Hands ... washing hands ... dont touch me ... I wont touch you.

TheresFox News anchor Julie Banderas tweeting: How long is this social distancing supposed to last? My husband keeps trying to get into the house.

Heres Austin restaurant El Arroyo, still smarting economically from the outbreak-induced postponement of the South by Southwest music festival,turning its outdoor message board into a mock dating app: Single man w/TP seeks single woman w/hand sanitizer for good clean fun.

And over here, see novelist Curtis Sittenfeld, sharinga photo of herself eating lunch in her wedding dressafter her kids asked her to wear it and I couldnt think of a reason not to.

Take a breather:

For centuries, laughter in tough times has been cathartic, said Wayne Maxwell, a Canadian psychologist who has done extensive research on gallows humour.

The term originated in medieval Britain, where hangings took place in parks near pubs and patrons told jokes at the victims expense.

Even in some of the writings of ancient Egypt, there are descriptions of military personnel returning from the front lines and using humour to cope, said Maxwell, of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

But, he warns, there exists a kind of comedy continuum: While humour can helpfully lighten things up, too much laughter and flippancy can signal a person is trying to escape from reality.

There are also questions of taste. No one wants to poke fun at medical misery or death.

Quarantining and social distancing, though, are fair game, and self-deprecating humour is almost always safe though LaRoche cautions that humour, like beauty, is always in the eye of the beholder.

It all depends on how your brain functions, she said.

Give yourself permission to find humour. Its almost like a spiritual practice, finding ways to laugh at yourself.

For those millions of parents struggling to work from home and teach their housebound children, shes preaching to the choir.

Witnessthis widely shared meme: a photo of an elderly, white-haired woman with the caption: Heres Sue. 31 years old, home schooling her kids for the last 5 days. Great job Sue. Keep it up.

Michael Knight, a 29-year-old musician and a caseworker for people with mental disabilities, has been breaking the tension by posting memes like: They said a mask and gloves were enough to go to the grocery store. They lied. Everyone else had clothes on.

It helps me decompress, said Knight, of Plymouth, Massachusetts.

It kind of offsets the paralyzing effects of the boogeyman that is the pandemic.

Rhodes, whos out more than $30,000 after three festivals and her first taped special were cancelled, is trying to see the humour in her own predicament.

She recently posted an iPhone video of herselfpretending to work a non-existent crowdon an outdoor stage she happened upon during a walk. Hows everyone not doing? she cracks.

The best material comes from a place thats very truthful and somewhat dark, Rhodes added.

Her prediction: When life eventually edges back to normal, Saturday Night Live and the latest Netflix stand-up specials will be powered by quarantine humour.

Just a month ago, who would have appreciated being given a roll of toilet paper? she said. I mean, the whole world is upside down.

Continue reading here:

COVID-19 coping mechanism: Laughter is the best medicine! - Loop News Jamaica

You might say telemedicine was made for this moment.

Long a form of medicine that was relegated to the sidelines, Telemedicine is about to get into the game in ways that will permanently change health care delivery, experts say.

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a surge in demand for telemedicine, experts say, as patients stay at home under shelter-in-place orders and consult with doctors and nurses remotely.

And many of these changes will remain, even when the pandemic ends, said Dr. Steve Ommen, associate dean of the Mayo Clinic Center for Connected Care, who talked with the PB about the new world of medicine being created.

PB: How is telemedicine helping during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Ommen: Traditional telemedicine is helping a lot, because we're using video, phone and monitoring devices so people can get their care in their homes. They don't have to go out into the public or into facilities where other potential infected patients are.

We're also using some of our tools in new ways. Even in the hospitals, for patients who are super high risk for being COVID positive, we're using telemedicine activities so the care team can take care of the patient without a whole bunch of people going into the same room.

PB: Are you seeing a surge in demand for telemedicine during this time of social distancing? Are you staffing up for it?

Ommen: Both. We're seeing a big uptick in demand. The clinic got rid of all unnecessary face-to-face visits so only if you had urgent health care needs (could see a doctor face-to-face). Now we're in the process of converting those practices into virtual practice.

Now (we're cross-training) support staff and individuals who are used to a more traditional in-person (patient setting). They're learning about the skills you need to do it virtually. So the workforce capacities have definitely ramped up.

PB: Do you think the pandemic will transform telemedicine?

Ommen: I think the landscape of medicine will change as a result of this. There's two reasons why that is going to happen. One is that the government removed a bunch of the barriers to the implementation of telemedicine, one, by removing some of the state-by-state licensure requirements and, two, by improving financial coverage for telemedicine patients.

Those might roll back to some degree after the pandemic is over, but I think the value of it will be such that it won't roll back to what it was in 2019.

The other thing that will drive that change will be the fact that the doctors, nurses, care teams will recognize the value of it, and patients will recognize the convenience of getting care when it is appropriate remotely.

PB: What were the biggest regulatory barriers to telemedicine?

Ommen: Prior to this, the physician always needed to be licensed in the state where the patient was during the time of interaction. Just think where we are. We have some patients who live in Wisconsin who get their care from doctors in Rochester. And now, they're being told to shelter-in-place in Wisconsin. Previously, their doctors couldn't have done this.

But with the federal and state governments both relaxing that requirement, they are making sure their patients have access to care.

PB: So you are convinced we're in a paradigm shift in health care?

Ommen: When you are the customer and in health care the customer is the patient they are the ones who are going to say, 'Why can''t I get my care remotely? It worked so well back in April and May.' We're going to see this momentum continue following the pandemic.

Excerpt from:

Mayo expert: 'The landscape of medicine will change as a result of the pandemic' - PostBulletin.com

On CNN Monday, Dr. Seema Yasmin said that if President Donald Trumps administration is knowingly favoring Florida for shipments of the drug hydroxychloroquine due to his relationship with the governor, it sets a terrible standard for government action on public health.

Florida Governor Ron Desantis says shipments of the drug will be sent to some Florida hospitals, and he was able to get access to it because hes friends with the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, who put him in contact with a pharmaceutical company that makes it, said anchor Jake Tapper. So, look, Im sure Floridians are overjoyed that Governor DeSantis did this, and hes looking out for the people in his state. People in other states might wonder if its fair and who knows if hydroxychloroquine will even work, but whether or not its fair that his connection, his personal relationship with a member of the Trump administration, allows him to get this. What are your thoughts on that?

Read more:

Not how medicine should work: CNN expert outraged that the rich get better coronavirus treatment - Raw Story

Did you hear the one about the employer who at some date in the future looked at a job applicants resume and said, Theres a gap in your CV. What were you doing in 2020?

I was washing my hands, the job applicant replied.

Or maybe you saw the TikTok meme of a toilet next to a roll of toilet paper that is bigger than the wheel of a car.

Or the Facebook video Coronavirus Rhapsody, set to the tune of Bohemian Rhapsody, Queens signature song. The lyrics begin: Is this a fever? Is this just allergies? Caught in a lockdown. No escape from the family.

Maybe you saw the tweet that said, Due to quarantining, Im only telling inside jokes.

Or another tweet based on a classic joke:

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?

A: SOCIAL DISTANCING. STAY AT LEAST 6 FT FROM THE OTHER CHICKENS!

Those last two appeared on a thread started by Megan L. Ranney, an emergency medicine physician at Rhode Island Hospital and associate professor of health services, policy and practice, and emergency medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Ranney is more than busy these days, but she deems a moment or two of levity essential.

Should we laugh, or cry? is how Ranney began on Friday. Today I feel like we need the former. So I'm starting a thread of #COVID19 jokes, inspired by @jbauerme and my own kids. Please add on. Q: Why doesn't anyone in Antarctica have COVID19? A: Because they're ice-o-lated.

The thread took off, just as dark humor has across the internet and elsewhere during the coronavirus pandemic.

Which is little surprise. During these dark times, as in dark times before (albeit never so dark as now), laughter can prove to be, well, good medicine.

In the midst of this pandemic, we're surrounded by dire forecasts of the future, Ranney told The Journal. We're worrying about our kids and our parents and even ourselves. Although it's important to acknowledge our fears, sometimes it's also useful to distract ourselves! We're in a marathon, not a sprint and finding little moments of humor and distraction can help us keep going. Comedy is perhaps MORE valuable in times of fear, than in times of plenty.

Whether through social media or informal group text chats that coworkers have newly created, we are finding something funny about toilet paper shortages, work-from-home attire and a parade of conference calls, Michelle P. Taylor, director of outpatient, HIV services and the Opioid Center of Excellence at the Woonsocket-based Community Care Alliance, told The Journal.

Laughter creates a sense of social connectedness, making us feel less alone. The release of endorphins calms the spirit, mind and body, reducing stress and warding off anxiety and depression. Even better, laughter bolsters the immune system, a real advantage in the face of COVID-19. Gallows humor is an effective way of coping with a really difficult situation and demonstrates positive thinking, creativity and resilience.

Brandon Gaudiano, a clinical psychologist at Butler Hospital and associate professor at The Warren Alpert Medical School, said: Laughter might not technically be the best medicine to fight the coronavirus, but it certainly will make the social isolation and cabin fever stemming from this pandemic a lot more bearable.

Research shows that laughter can lower the body's stress reactions and lift your mood, at least temporarily. The coronavirus can't keep us from having fun, because we can still laugh and joke with friends and family while social distancing. Laughter's biggest benefit is that it helps foster social bonds, by allowing us to see the humor in our shared experiences, even the negative ones. That can help us all to stay connected even in times like this.

Why humor during COVID-19? Why not is more like it, said Jamie Lehane, president and CEO of Newport Mental Health. Laughter relaxes us, relieves stress and tension and releases endorphins that just makes us feel better for up to 45 minutes after a good laugh. Laughter decreases stress hormones like cortisol and boosts your immune system.

Another critical benefit of laughter we need right now is that it is an effective way to defuse anger. Being cooped up with family members where there are sometimes tumultuous relationships under normal circumstances is exacerbated when we are forced together for hours, days and weeks. Humor is a way to release some of the anger and reduce interpersonal conflict. Most importantly, it is a way to connect with others and feel bonded with each other.

We sure need this in such trying times.

How badly?

The answer might be found in Coronavirus Rhapsody, with lyrics by comedian Dana Jay Bein.

The video posted on Tuesday, March 24.

As of this writing, it had more than 5.2 million views, and climbing.

Freaked out by coronavirus? Heres some expert advice on how to lower the stress.

Questions and Answers about coronavirus.

TO OUR READERS: This content is being provided for free as a public service during the coronavirus outbreak. Sign up for our daily or breaking newsletters to stay informed. Please support local journalism by subscribing to The Providence Journal.

gwmiller@providencejournal.com

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Laughter is a medicine we need right now - The Providence Journal

It's always better to be safe than sorry.

This week, the University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson announced it will allow its fourth-year students to graduate early in order to increase the number of physicians able to combat the COVID-19 pandemic on a volunteer basis.

To date, Arizona has about 920 confirmed cases of COVID-19 along with 18 deaths. As a whole, the U.S. has nearly 140,000 confirmed cases and 2,300 deaths. Nearly two weeks ago, on March 16, the U.S. had 4,400 confirmed cases, meaning there has been an increase in nearly 136,000 cases in just 13 days.

"Some of our students are matching all over the country, so it's not just about residencies here, it's about residency programs in other parts of the country that may need more assistance more rapidly," said Dr. Kevin Moynahan, deputy dean for education at UA College of Medicine Tucson. "At this point in time, we haven't peaked. ... We don't really know what that peak is going to look like and so we would rather be agile if we need to be."

The majority of the fourth-year medical students around the country have already fulfilled their graduation requirements and so this would enable them to graduate at least a month in advance.

Normally, July 1 is the date when newly-graduated physicians begin their first year of residency. This year, given the circumstances, the UA College of Medicine will hold its graduation in April and the students who are volunteering to help fight the pandemic can begin the process earlier.

"We'd rather be prepared than look back and say, 'Oh boy, I wish we had done that,' because it can't be done very rapidly," Moynahan said. "These residency interns will have to be on-boarded by their programs, become employed and get insurance. It's not something that can be done on a dime."

Other medical schools around the country have done the same. Recently, the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University became the first school to announce this change, as New York City is currently the hardest-hit place in the nation.

In addition, the UA College of Medicine Phoenix announced in an email that it will allow its fourth-year students to graduate early, as well.

As the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to grow around the country, physicians and other healthcare workers on the front lines are becoming all the more necessary. Estimates are projecting that millions of people will become infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and so a shortage of physicians should be the least of the country's worries.

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UA College of Medicine to hold graduation early in light of COVID-19 pandemic - Arizona Daily Wildcat

Hannah (Schlatter) Farmer has a passion for medicine, and she also has a love for her home.

One of the newest additions to the North Sunflower Medical Center staff, the 2007 Indianola Academy graduate has been combining those two loves in her new position as a nurse practitioner in Ruleville.

I wanted to live here, where I was born and raised, Farmer told The E-T in a recent interview.

Farmer was always community-minded growing up.

She was raised on the baseball and soccer fields of Indianola, coached for the most part by her father, Ron Schlatter, who helped found the IA soccer program and coached the program to multiple state championships.

The daughter of Ron and Lynn Schlatter, she is one of five siblings.

I was always at the baseball field or at the soccer field, she said.

Farmer was part of one of the IA state championship teams during her sophomore year.

When her father suffered a stroke two years ago, Farmer stepped up and helped coach the IA girls soccer team during the fall of 2018.

Shes also worked with other community leaders to help revive and maintain the youth soccer program in Indianola.

As a child, she was exposed to the medical field, through her father, who ran the lab at South Sunflower County Hospital for three decades, she said.

During her high school years, she worked summers at the hospital in medical records.

After graduating, she went to Mississippi Delta Community College, where she studied to become a registered nurse.

She moved on to the Mississippi University for Women where she earned a bachelors degree in nursing.

Farmer followed those studies up by attending the University of Mississippi Medical Centers program to become a nurse practitioner.

Farmer studied family medicine at UMMC, but when she applied for and got the job as a nurse practitioner at NSMC, it did not take long for her to find her calling.

She has spent the last couple of months at the Sunflower Diagnostic Center, focusing on womens health.

It didnt really cross my mind, going into womens health (in school), and when I got over here, they needed somebody, and I went over there, Farmer said. Ive only been there since January, but I have loved it.

Farmer said it has been rewarding coming home and serving the people of her home county, particularly women through things like mammograms, bone density scans and pap smears.

Its definitely a big need for womens health, making sure every woman has their mammogram, has their pap smears, she said. Those are things that are very easy we can do to catch cervical cancer and breast cancer.

Farmer said serving the people of Sunflower County and the Delta drives her to do the best job possible for her patients.

She recommends that people get their annual checkups, as well as diagnostic screenings.

Farmer said it is also important for patients to follow up with doctors after they are diagnosed with conditions or if something is suspected.

Its a way we can get things under control and manage issues, Farmer said.

Here are a few things to know about the Sunflower Diagnostic Center

Sunflower Diagnostic Center offers Mammograms, Sonograms, Ultrasound, Bone Density & yearly gynecological screenings, as well as, removal of skin lesions including moles, skin tags, skin cancers and scar treatment. Sunflower Diagnostic Center accepts Medicare, Medicaid, Health Insurance, Private Pay and participates in the BCCP (Breast & Cervical Cancer Program). Have your provider call (662) 756-4000 today to schedule your appointment.

3D Mammography

Sunflower Diagnostic Center provides the latest diagnostic technology available through 3D digital mammography. Sunflower Diagnostic Center is the first center in the delta to feature the 3D state-of-the-art system, Selenia 3D digital mammography from Hologic, offering the state-of-the-art Tomosynthesis imaging.

Sunflower Diagnostic Center is proud to be able to offer the newest technology for breast cancer detection. 3D Digital mammography is different from conventional mammography in how the image of the breast is acquired and, more importantly, viewed. Our radiologist can magnify the images, increase or decrease the contrast and invert the black and white values while reading the images. These features allow our radiologist to evaluate microcalcifications and focus on areas of concern.

North Sunflower Medical Center is a healthcare organization that is proud to offer the services of Sunflower Diagnostic Center, whose primary mission is offering high quality, acute health care and preventative medical care in a caring and compassionate manner to the Mississippi Delta.

Over half of the U.S. News and World Report top 20 hospitals offer Hologic 3D Mammography technology. More than five million women to date in the United States have already been screened with this life-changing technology, which is now available in 50 states and in over 50 countries.

Bone Density Scans are recommended for:

Postmenopausal women

Depo Shot for birth control

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Type 1 Diabetes

Chronic Liver Disease

Using Steroids or Glucocorticoid for 3 months

Women age 65 and older

Men age 70 and older

Height loss of inch or more within one year

Total height loss of 1 inches from your original height

Call today to set up your appointment: (662) 756-4000

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Homecoming: Hannah Farmer's passion for medicine comes alive in Ruleville - Enterprise-Tocsin

The evolving policy response to Covid-19 reflects a vexed debate between epidemiologists and economists, moderated by the public-relations experts. Are we getting the right balance?

Initially, some economists thought that the doctors were exaggerating the seriousness of the epidemic, by quoting frightening figures of exponential growth. Were the doctors calling for an excessive degree of containment because they didnt understand the cost of locking down large parts of the economy? A gentler strategy would protect the economy by sequential staged measures, responding to the actual progress of the epidemic. A scaling-up approach might allow us to get by with less damage to the economy.

The experience of Italy, however, has put an end to that argument. No democratic government can maintain a light-touch containment/mitigation strategy in the face of the sort of daily death rates that Italy experienced last week, with deaths rising from 400, to 600 then 800 over three days. Its clear that this high toll was a direct result of an overwhelmed hospital system, with insufficient intensive-care facilities.

The idea of flattening the peak was already widely accepted, but the triage experience of Italy sharpens the idea. The peak that needs flattening is not the total number of cases, but the number of cases needing IC facilities.

The elderly, the immunity-compromised and the infirm are the ones most likely to need IC care if they contract the disease one credible estimate is that 10% of cases in this vulnerable group will need an ICU. This cohort must be protected, not just for their own good, but to avoid an all-out comprehensive lockdown, with the enormous economic damage this would cause. This vulnerable group must be subjected to a rigorous, full-isolating lockdown, much tougher than at present.

Of course the rest of the population will still have to practice stringent social distancing, handwashing and maybe even compulsory mask-wearing (when we have enough of them). Super-spreaders should be understood to be events and environments, not individuals. So no more football, concerts, or religious services with physical meetings. Comprehensive testing (when we have enough facilities) will be needed to identify cases and isolate clusters in the general population. Experts need to decide whether schools and hairdressers can operate. What to do with public transport?

These containment decisions need a greater degree of granularity than current measures. But the objective here is clearer than at present: the bulk of the economy needs to get back to work ASAP. Essential retail trade, factories, construction, and education via remote linkages. All this can return to some kind of normality, with close monitoring for new outbreaks, provided the most vulnerable are protected.

The OECDs forecast of global GDP produced early this month foresaw growth of 2.4% this year, or a worst case of 1.4%. In just a few weeks, this kind of thinking has been entirely overtaken by events. Decimate is the word that springs to mind, in its original meaning of eliminating one in ten. The first quarter of the crisis will see GDP fall by 10% or so, simply reflecting the closing down of a large part of the service economy airlines, restaurants and non-essential retail trade. Unemployment will top 10%, probably substantially.

A successful flattening strategy would entail keeping GDP down, as the strategy spreads out the peak over time. Easing off on containment produces a second wave -- already seen in those Asian countries which succeeded in containing the initial onslaught. So low for long will not only apply to interest rates, but to GDP as well. There is no V-shaped recovery in sight.

If this dramatic scenario is scary enough to get the policy-makers to agree to a more targeted containment strategy, the next task is to sell this unpopular idea to a reluctant public, that only a week ago was basking, cheek-to-cheek, on Bondi beach. To separate grannies from their little-darlings is uncivilised. What is the strategy to sell such an unpalatable message? A bevy of masked-and-gowned ICU surgeons pleading with us to stay at home clearly isnt enough.

Perhaps we need a good cop, bad cop approach. The Prime Minister could go on assuring us that our ANZAC spirit will see us through and well soon be back at the footy with a virus-free pie in our hand. Who for the bad-cop role? Who better than Peter Dutton? Flanked by a couple of black-clad grim-faced members of his border force, he could issue a stern injunction: any elderly person found chatting face-to-face with their grandchildren, or slipping into a convenience store for a loaf of bread, will be disciplined. Their names will be taken down and later, when they are waiting in the queue for the scarce ventilators at an over-stretched hospital, they will be placed last-in-line.

Stephen Grenville is a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute, former deputy governor at the Reserve Bank, and certified elderly by any definition.

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The balance between medicine and economics - The Interpreter

A major part of modern human history has been the fight to defeat disease, from tuberculosis to measles to waterborne illnesses like cholera. One of humankinds greatest triumphs in that never-ending battle came only some 65 years ago, when Jonas E. Salk developed a vaccine against polio. Within six years, incidences of the deadly disease were down by 90 percent in the United States; within twenty-five it was eliminated from the country. Today, it has been mostly extinguished across the globe.

But, in the middle of the last century, poliomyelitis, also known as infantile paralysis, was a terrifying scourge. While the disease had been documented as far back as the time of ancient Egypt, it evolved into an ever-more pressing problem around the 1920s. Over the following decades, epidemics continually devastated America, hitting especially hard in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Each summer, polio would wrack the population, especially children, sickening thousands, paralyzing a large portion, and killing many. In the five years leading up to 1955, there were an average of 25,000 cases a year in the United States. In 1952, the worst year on record, more than 3,000 of 58,000 cases died; in Chicago alone, 82 of 1,203 reported cases died.

President Roosevelt in his wheelchair on the porch at Top Cottage in Hyde Park, NY with Ruthie Bie and Fala. February 1941. Photo: Margaret "Daisy" Suckley.; FDR Presidential Library and Museum Polio first manifested in flu-like symptoms, then led to paralysis of the limbs. Survivors described waking up from sleep unable to move. Severe cases led to treatment in an artificial respirator called an iron lung. A patients whole body from the neck down was enclosed in the forbidding-looking contraption, which created a vacuum that drew the lungs up and down, helping people lacking muscle power to breathe.

While the disease primarily struck children, no one was completely safe: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, perhaps polios most famous victim, contracted it when he was 39, and was left partially paralyzed. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had polio as a two-year-old and was unable to walk until he was five; Chicagos one-time cardinal Francis George had permanent damage to his legs from the disease.

To combat polio, in 1938 FDR created the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, later called the March of Dimes due to its fundraising request to send in a dime. Scientists sought to develop a vaccine for the disease, most working with a live version of the virus. But the young Jonas Salk, a garment workers son who had studied the influenza virus and worked on commercial flu vaccines during the war with the respected Dr. Thomas Francis of the University of Michigan, went against conventional wisdom and devoted his attention to a killed virus vaccine.

I guess I felt the unreasonableness of life in so many ways, he later told the New Yorker about why he went into research. Research was one way to get at reasonableness and logic.

He conducted a small trial in 1952 near Pittsburgh with a group that he told the New Yorker helped us look into the future. Another limited trial followed in 1953, then, in 1954, the March of Dimes pushed for a large-scale field trialthe largest experiment of its kind in history. More than a million people took part, with 440,000 inoculated with Salks vaccine and the others with a placebo. Illinoiss DuPage County, outside Chicago, was involved, with 8,000 children given the vaccine at their schools, their teachers lauding them for being polio pioneers.

After a year of observation by an independent team led by Salks old mentor Dr. Francis, a press conference was held to announce the results of the trial. Nobody could recall a medical press conference quite like this one, wrote the New York Times in a review of a biography of Salk. [F]amilies huddled around radios, as if listening to the World Series or a championship fight. Crowds watched on television sets lining department store windows.

An opinion poll ranked Jonas Salk roughly between Churchill and Gandhi as a revered figure of modern history Photo: Wikimedia Commons/SAS Scandinavian AirlinesOn April 12, 1955the tenth anniversary of FDRs deathFrancis announced that the vaccine was 80-90 percent effective. The chairman of the American Medical Association called it one of the greatest events in the history of medicine. President Eisenhower called Salk a benefactor of mankind. According to the New York Times obituary for Salk, who died in 1995, an opinion poll ranked him roughly between Churchill and Gandhi as a revered figure of modern history. In 1999, Salk appeared in an illustration on the cover of Time magazines 100 Greatest Minds of the 20th Century issue alongside Freud and Einstein.

The success of the vaccine was astounding. Widespread vaccination was launched in the United States in 1955. As Salk himself boasted to the New Yorker, In the late nineteen-forties and early nineteen-fifties there were close to three thousand cases of polio per week during several consecutive weeks in most of those years and in 1960 there were just over three thousand cases the entire year. The last reported case of polio in the United States was in 1979. Globally, cases were reduced from around 350,000 in 1988 to 1,000 in 2003, and the disease has been all but wiped out.

The live virus vaccine developed by Salks rival Albert Sabinfirst licensed in 1961 eventually overtook Salks killed virus vaccine in popularity since it was cheaper to produce and easier to administer (it is an oral vaccine). But Sabins vaccine could occasionally cause someone to contract the disease, and around the turn of the millennium the United States went back to a killed virus vaccine.

In 1963, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies opened outside San Diego with financial support from the March of Dimes. It is now a revered institution that has produced numerous Nobel laureatesa recognition that eluded Salk. Only in his late 30s when he developed the polio vaccine, Salk struggled to find another success to match his first.

The development of the polio vaccine presaged later victories in creating effective preventatives against other infectious diseases such as influenza, measles, and mumps, unfounded contemporary skepticism against vaccines notwithstanding. (2019 saw one of the worst measles outbreaks in the United States in decades, with the majority of cases among people who were not vaccinated.)

In 1981, WTTWs John Callaway spoke with Salk about his career and the development of the polio vaccine. Discussing the public response to a successful vaccine, Salk said, it is always the lifting of fear that they appreciate so.

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"One of the Greatest Events in the History of Medicine": The Defeat of Polio - WTTW News