Protecting doctors is Alison Craig’s job, but the COVID-19 global pandemic isn’t making it easy.
For her four years as chief of staff for Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin, the Madison pediatrician has been charged with overseeing several dozen doctors as they care for about 60,000 patients.
Now, as the novel coronavirus spreads through the community, it’s Craig’s job to make sure they don’t get sick while they’re doing their jobs. But the tools she needs are increasingly scarce.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) like face masks, respirators and gowns are in high demand around the world, and supplies flow first to hospitals and emergency services. Outpatient clinics like hers could be stuck waiting.
“Our supply chain has gradually dwindled,” Craig said. Without new resources, she learned early last week, they could run out within a few weeks.
“I strongly believe … the safety of health care providers needs to be a top priority,” she said. “So I had a lot of sleepless nights.”
But one of those sleepless nights paid off last Tuesday. She was up before dawn, reading the news, when she saw a photo from South Korea of a health care worker holding test vials and reaching through holes in Plexiglas. Read the full story here.
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