Update from Clinic Sofia
When Dr. Jewelia Wagner called her 90-year-old grandmother recently, she asked if she had ever experienced something like the pandemic in her nine decades. Her grandma replied, “no never.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to know how to respond or what to think in these crazy times, but you have to count your blessings and enjoy the family you can spend time with right now,” added Dr. Wagner, mom to four girls ages 5 to 19, who are all home now. “We’ve got this and we’ll get through this.”
Dr. Wagner also responded to common questions from patients: What are things like in the hospitals right now? And does my need make sense for telehealth?
She noted that, while doctors are nurses are wearing additional protective gear, labor and delivery is operating as it always has and that expecting parents have a separate entrance to the hospital. Parents are spending more time in their rooms with babies rooming in at all times, in most cases, but returning parents won’t likely notice many other changes from previous deliveries.
As far as telehealth visits, “patients appreciate them because they want to talk to somebody and they want to see somebody. Visits that involve a lot of conversation, such as pregnancy confirmation and fertility consults, work really well for this option.” Clinic Sofia also offers telephone calls for those who don’t have video technology or prefer not to use it.
Dr. Wagner added that she looks forward to seeing patients in-person again when it is safe and advisable to do so: “Don’t lose hope. This can get overwhelming, and it’s easy to think about things we have to reschedule, but we will get to do all of those fun things again,” she said. “The important thing now is to stay healthy.”
