Dr. DiDomenico: Staying Protected, Serving Patients Safely
Dr. Lawrence DiDomenico, a physician and surgeon with NOMS Ankle & Foot Care Centers, is coming back strong. You can learn more about Dr. Domenico at the podiatry practice’s website.
What are some ways the COVID-19 outbreak has affected your organization, and how is it rebounding?
Obviously similar to many other businesses, our practice has been altered/slowed down as most patients are concerned and attempting to protect themselves. Additionally, the physicians, administrative staff and medical assistant staff are also concerned and attempting to protect themselves while doing their best to manage and take care of patient needs. Our practice in particular manages many ill patients who are older and medically compromised, making them more at-risk than the average person. Because of this, we have taken the necessary steps to protect our patients and staff as best as we can. We take care of many diabetic patients and because of the drop-off in visits, we have seen an unfortunate rise in infections and other complications secondary to the decrease in office visits/maintenance care.
Like other businesses, we are witnessing the relaxation, relatively speaking, of the guard for the Coronavirus in the general population. This, in turn, has increased our visits. Our staff continues to take the same safety measures to ensure safety for the patients and themselves.
The hospitals are testing patients, doctors and staff, attempting to put the patients and staff in as safe of a scenario now while performing elective surgery.
How has the outbreak affected your personal life?
My personal life has been affected tremendously in all aspects. In my practice life, as stated above, my office/practice has decreased. In alignment with the governor’s orders, the hospital policies called for only needed emergent surgery to be performed during the peak of the pandemic. Still, there are ongoing changes that we must comply with in order to progress until we have a vaccine.
In my personal life, my children were home from school and home schooled. This was somewhat challenging as we are not school teachers and we cannot do as good of a job as a professional school teacher. I do believe their education has been interrupted. As hard as we tried, we are not trained to teach at home so this certainly is a concern moving forward into the next school year.
On another note, one of my children was scheduled to make their first holy communion. This is an interruption in the religious education and slowing down the process of growth. Again, what is going to happen at the end of summer? There are so many responsibilities with the children and this is one more thing every parent now has to worry about besides the obvious.
As it relates to my social life with extended family and friends, our time spent is tremendously reduced/limited. The only good thing is, we are spending more time with our immediate families. We are spending less time watching sports, being so busy — therefore more time with our family. This is a good thing.
What steps are you taking to come back strong?
I am not sure there is anything we can do but be intelligent with our decision-making, putting ourselves in good position to stay well and healthy and be ready to assist patients when needed. We are here for the patients’ needs and will be ready when problems come about.
We are in the service industry and need to be ready when called upon.
What advice are you sharing with the people you love?
Follow the rules and be smart about the conditions around us. Unfortunately, there is not enough knowledge and information yet, but we do know how to give ourselves the best chance to avoid this horrible virus. Follow the advice that has been provided to all of us.