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 Jill Johnson-Dare, MHS, PA(ASCP)CM
AAPA member since 2008
“Hello PA Community! I have enjoyed hearing how other PAs are dealing and adapting during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the state of Colorado, we also have a stay-at-home order in effect, but, as we all know, pathology is an essential business, and cancer doesn’t stop for a pandemic. Working for a large private practice that covers a broad geographical area, our volumes have decreased significantly, but the PA staff is still needed in the hospitals almost every day for coverage. The cancer resections have not stopped. We service two separate hospital systems, and it is interesting to see how differently this pandemic is managed. This has also led our staff to need to keep up on daily changes in the recommended employee safety precautions based on what facility they are working in.
One system has limited entry points, nurses staffed at the entrances to take your temperature, and required periodic check-ins on the computers where you must verify that you are not experiencing any of the listed symptoms during your shift. They have also approved the use of personal ‘homemade’ masks for staff that do not have direct patient contact.
The other health system requires hospital-issued masks to be worn at all times up until you walk out of the building. To help conserve masks, they’ve set up a ‘recycling system’ for unsoiled PPE. They’ve partnered with a manufacturer that reprocesses medical equipment and supplies. This manufacturer will be able to reprocess the collected masks to augment supplies within the hospitals. The reprocessed items are equivalent in efficacy to initial-use products, based upon existing FDA standards. The medical staff also receives daily emails with COVID-19 related updates and to answer common questions. These emails have been very helpful and reassuring to the pathology staff, since we are sometimes in our own little world in the gross room.
We don’t provide autopsy coverage but have proactively moved storage of amputations from the morgue refrigerator to a secondary refrigerator, in order to have as much space available for when it is needed.
During the downtime, the PAs have been able to focus on reviewing policies and procedures, completing our annual safety trainings, and working on other projects that have long been put off.
We have also seen tremendous support for health care workers from the community, with donations of cloth masks, food, and discounts. One of our own histotechnologists has used her sewing skills to make over 100 masks for all of the staff within our company! Thanks, Kathy!
I am lucky that my spouse is a teacher, so he is home, handling the online schoolwork with our children. Personally, I could not handle homeschooling my kiddos! We are trying to keep home life relatively similar to how it would be for us if they were on summer break, with chores and lots of backyard activities. We always like being outdoors in Colorado, so not being able to go into the mountains and be outside for sports has been difficult. I have two sisters who are nurses in rural and community hospitals also dealing with COVID-19. We talk almost daily about our experiences and how things are going. It is difficult to comprehend how things have changed so quickly. I hope everyone has an outlet to help deal with things during this difficult time. Wishing everyone the best, and stay safe!“
We want to hear from you! During this time of isolation, now more than ever we need to see and hear from our PA community! How is COVID-19 affecting your work? What tips and tricks have you found useful? How are you using this time to promote pathologists’ assistants? Send us a summary describing your “new normal”, along with one or two high-resolution photos, and your story may be featured next (read previous features here). Or, if you have any COVID-19 resources to add to our list, please pass them along. Remember, we are all in this together, and the AAPA will be here to support you throughout this crisis and beyond.
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