Being There for Patients Through Disasters
As a doctor, you should be willing to care for patients, even if it means coming in to help them after a natural disaster.
My office is in a plaza that was built in the 1960s. The office has a brick front, flat roof, aluminum siding rear, and insulation. I have practiced here since the later 1970s.
I never built my own office. as I was always too busy taking care of patients to do so. With frequent storms in the Midwest there are time that the power to the office goes out. We have lanterns available and a set of battery operated thermometers as well as hand held instruments.
Power or not, the office always stays open and I keep working. We even set up the kerosene heaters so that it remains warm in here even during the winter if we lose power in a snow storm.
This is my practice and my patients and I need to be here for them. I can practice with a pen and a pad of paper even if the computers are out and handwrite the prescriptions. I'll do whatever it takes.
After the recent terrible storms, I can't imagine it would have been nice to be in Houston or Tampa. But as a doctor, as long as I could have gotten to the office, I would have been able to practice. Even if this mean putting on wading boots or not.
I am not crazy, it's just in time of emergency your patients need you more than ever. As such, you need to be there. In my opinion, this is the difference between my generation and the current generation of employed physicians.
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