TSMD - December Newsletter - Stay Home!
December Greetings
The holiday season is officially upon us. In any other year, we’d be finalizing travel plans right now, dreaming up menus for dinner parties, and readying our homes to host friends and family. The unfortunate reality of 2020 is that our cherished winter traditions must look different than they have in the past.
It’s been a challenging year. I know that I’m not alone in wishing I could gather all my family together for hugs and laughter and good food. But I’m going to share my dearest holiday wish with you: all I want for Christmas is for you to celebrate with your household and your household alone.
This is my holiday plea: don’t travel.
All over the country, physicians are struggling to find beds for their patients as cases COVID-19 increase, sometimes calling hospitals out of state in desperate attempts to find beds for their ICU patients. This is not an exaggeration. This is dire. More than a quarter of a million Americans are dead. And physicians are exhausted.
It is tempting to want to set aside caution for the opportunity to spend the holidays with those we love most. But for the sake of those you love—and for the sake of people you may never meet—please limit in-person celebrations to people you already live with.
Remember, this will not last forever. There has been very hopeful news in recent weeks about vaccinations and how long immunity lasts after infection. This distance we are experiencing is temporary. Let us embrace creative ways to be in touch with our family and friends, and develop new traditions to celebrate our holiday traditions together—even if from a distance.
Someday soon we all will be together.
Spotlight on Nicole M. Franks, MD, FACEP
I am happy to be able to highlight the work of my colleague Dr. Nicole Franks this month.
Dr. Franks is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Emory University
School of Medicine in Atlanta. She serves as the Chief Quality Officer for Emory University Hospital Midtown, where she practices clinically and works administratively. She is a former Associate Medical Director for the Emergency Department at EUHM. She also serves as the Co-Director for the Emergency Medicine Administrative Fellowship and is a current member of the Emory Healthcare Board of Trustees.
Dr. Franks is the Immediate Past Chair of the Emergency Medicine Section of the National Medical Association, and continues to follow the NMA mission of achieving health equity by serving as the Co-Chair for the Emory Collaborative Community Outreach and Health Disparities group, allowing her to leverage her influence and experience to raise awareness, design interventions, and advocate for vulnerable populations.
An experienced operations, quality, and patient safety leader focused on achieving health equity, she is passionate about physician leadership, risk management, patient safety, quality reporting, and process improvement.
A native of New Orleans, Dr. Franks graduated from Spelman College in 1995 before attending Morehouse School of Medicine. She completed her residency in emergency medicine at
Emory and served as Chief Resident from 2001-02.
An active member of the running community in Atlanta, she has served on the Board of Directors for Girls on the Run, with her final year as the 2017-18 Board Chair. She continues to be an active alumnae supporter and a mentor in the Health Careers Program at Spelman College, and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Atlanta Alumnae Chapter and the Atlanta Chapter of the Links, Inc. She enjoys painting and drawing, and lives with her husband Kevin and three children John, Michelle and Payton.
You can follow her on Twitter at @nicfmd.
Around the Web
“In the imminent future, patients will start to die because there simply aren’t enough people to care for them. Doctors and nurses will burn out. The most precious resource the U.S. health-care system has in the struggle against COVID-19 isn’t some miracle drug. It’s the expertise of its health-care workers—and they are exhausted.”
How COVID-19 threatens the careers of women in medicine
“Even before the pandemic, women physicians and researchers earned less, did more at home, and were lower on the professional ladder compared to men. Here’s how the pandemic could further hurt women’s careers.”
Hospitals and Health Care Workers Issue a Call to Arms for Wearing Masks
“The message beseeches Americans to protect everyone, including those on the forefront of the battleground in so many states where incoming patients are waiting for beds in overwhelmed hospitals with staff members fatigued from the unrelenting march of death during the pandemic.”
Where to Find Me
I’m happy to be offering virtual lectures and panels in this season of remote education. Here are some that I’ll be participating in this month:
December 3, 2020
Pediatric Grand Rounds Metrohealth, Cleveland Ohio
ENT Tricks of the Trade
December 5, 2020
Brandon Regional Hospital
Florida Licensure: Intimate Partner Violence, Human Trafficking, Medical Errors
December 28, 2020
Florida Atlantic University Emergency Medicine Program
Faculty Development
Happy Holidays
I wish you health and happiness this holiday season.
Love,
Tracy
