family wellness
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By Cheryl Maguire
ost people who work in the medical field are selfless professionals that want to help others. With the recent Coronavirus outbreak, this quality is even more apparent as they risk their own life to do their job. That is why we wanted to highlight some moms who work in the medical field so that we can further appreciate all that they do. Sarah Ofstedal Ramer Physical therapist in home health Sarah goes to the homes of patients and works with them on restoring independence by improving their mobility, usually after an illness or hospitalization. She works out of her car with all her supplies in the back seat. She has been a physical therapist for 16 years and for the past two years in home health. She loves getting to know her patients. She helps them develop a plan so that they can live their lives outside their home. But due to the current suggestions of staying at home she likes going to their home, so they don’t have to leave and seek rehabilitation in the community and increase their risk of exposure. Her current biggest challenge is managing her supplies. She has a strict system in her car to control the risk of cross-contamination. She must reuse masks because of the 20 family wellness
shortage, and home health agencies are struggling to get restocked. She says she isn’t sure where the state stands with assistance from the California government, but home health was not included in the package put together in Washington. Another challenge she faces is that her job demands that she stands close to her patients or even physically assists them, putting them both at risk for possible transfer of the virus. In relation to the Coronavirus she is trying to figure ways to be safe. She wants to serve her clients while protecting them and herself. Due to the lack of supplies, she is working as a team with her coworkers to make a system that helps stretch their resources, while not ignoring good infection control. She made the difficult decision to be one of the PTs on staff that would treat patients the are/were positive for COVID. These patients will have gone through a crisis and will need extensive rehab to get their lives back. She struggles with wanting to take a break from work to spend time with her children because her husband is also an essential employee. But then she remembers how much she loves what she does, and that early rehab is important. People receiving PT cannot wait until they get the all-clear to work on their physical restoration. At home she struggles with her kindergartener who started the homeschool process. Because she’s at work all day, and her daughter is in daycare, they can’t start school work until the end of the day. And also her husband has to work at night. suburban family | subfam.com
Sarah struggles with self-regulation to be patient with her daughter who is struggling with feelings of excitement, frustration, and sadness of not seeing her teacher and friends. All while she must make dinner, eat dinner, and then racing the clock before bedtime. But she has received support from her daughter’s teacher, and she says she knows that they’ll get through this together. Jennifer Zeidberg, MD. Obstetrics and Gynecology doctor in private practice As an OB/Gyn doctor, Jennifer in an ordinary week sees about 100-110 patients in her office. She delivers anywhere between 2-5 babies and 1-3 surgeries per week. Her patients are there to see her for obstetrical care, well woman exams, evaluations for abnormal bleeding, infections, contraception, and cancer. Currently she is seeing less than 40 patients in a week and she is trying to space out necessary appointments such that no patient waits in the waiting area and so they can disinfect all patient areas between visits. The most difficult part for Jennifer of parenting under COVID is seeing her special needs kid flounder when he’s been so very supported for so long. He thrives on routine and consistency and having all that removed, along with all the places that help care for him in an inclusive way is truly devastating for her. Ordinarily her discussions with her patients are about them. How their health is, what’s May/June 2020
