Orthopedic docs do their part with 'telehealth' conferences

Other than contracting coronavirus, the last thing you'd want to do at this time is twist an ankle, aggravate a knee injury or break a finger and head to an emergency room that could potentially include coronavirus sufferers.

The doctors at Fox Valley Orthopedics in Geneva don't want you doing that either.

"We see our role in this crisis as remaining open so we can see the urgent orthopedic issues that continue to happen, so that the hospitals don't have to deal with that," said Dr. Vishal Mehta, president of the medical group at Fox Valley Orthopedic.

In that regard, Fox Valley Orthopedics has switched mostly to telephone and video diagnosis and advice, stopped all elective surgeries, and is down to about 15 percent of its surgery load in doing only injuries like ankle, foot or wrist fractures.

"We have stopped all elective surgeries to preserve as much of the personal protective equipment for society as we can, so we are not a drain on that," Mehta said.

Fox Valley Orthopedics has all three of its buildings open - two in Geneva and one in Elgin - but only one medical team in each building. It is set up that way so that if one physician or nurse in a building were to contract COVID 19, it would affect only one team, not a mix of two or more.

With as many as a third of hospital ER visits being related to orthopedic injuries, Mehta feels his team is providing a key service in offering to handle those cases.

"We wouldn't be worrying about insurance or payments, but just doing our part to take care of people so hospitals can focus on COVID patients," said Mehta, who has been in touch with the Kane County Health Department and local emergency departments to let them be aware of what the orthopedic surgeons want to do.

Overall, the staff at Fox Valley is handling the vast majority of its sessions with patients through "telehealth" conferences.

"Show me via video where something hurts, and we make decisions from there," Mehta added. "People seem to like it, as many are just starved for some type of social interaction, and just being able to see your doctor via video gives some sense of normalcy."

Dr. Tim Petsche, who has spent his entire professional career at Fox Valley, said a phone call into the center goes to a physician assistant to determine a patient's needs.

"Many times it is a strain or a sprain that can be treated through telehealth," Petsche said. "We want to minimize the risk and not have them leave the house if they don't have to."

As for putting off elective surgeries, Petsche said those cases pop up when someone who has had sciatic nerve pain for a long time, and is suffering a flare up, or someone with carpal tunnel, bunions, finger problems or other conditions that need attention - but not surgery at this time.

"A large component of orthopedic surgeries are those in which we say you should have this done, but you have a decent window in which to do it," he added.

"For those, we say to wait, because what if there was a complication from surgery and you had to go to the hospital and spend time there? Then there is a risk of getting COVID 19."

When we finally go out:

In listening to the governors of states most affected by coronavirus, and sensing how anxious our president is to fling open the doors of commerce, one would think a compromise is going to have to unfold about how we start our new normal.

So, I'll share my idea for our local mayors. When it appears the tight grip of stay-at-home is going to ease, it might be a good idea to set up a system like the one we use for conserving water in having designated days for watering lawns.

It could work like this in any downtown or retail mall setting: A certain number of stores would be open on certain days, maybe three days a week for each store. Never all at the same time.

It would mean consumers would have to get to know which of their favorite stores were open on which days through social media channels or ads in newspapers. And they could go to those stores only on those days. It would limit the number of people out shopping or walking around town on any given day, but it would allow for a slow transition back to normalcy.

Restaurants should maybe stay on carry out or delivery only, or add some outdoor dining with tables spaced well apart.

Of course, it's not perfect. You wouldn't have groups of people just wandering through our downtowns or malls, going in and out of every store, which is what merchants like. That has to come at a later date.

Merchants could also limit the number of people inside the store, and hand sanitizer should be at the payment terminal. Landlords could ease up on rent for a period of time, if at all possible.

We are going to have to try something to start with, and the safer the option, the better.

Relive Belgian history:

In late 2018, I mentioned that an educational program at the St. Charles History Museum drew a full house. And it was no surprise, given that the topic was the history of the Belgian community in the city.

Cynthia Foster did the research for this popular program that attracted about 60 people, many of those of Belgian descent who had lived in, or had memories of, the Belgium Town neighborhood along Dean Street on the city's west side.

Foster, who spent about three years putting together the presentation, tells me DVD copies of the Belgium Town presentation are now available at the history museum to purchase at $19.95 each.

"It is the exact same script we used that night," Foster said of the new DVD. She had former local radio colleague Jon Morgan and former St. Charles History Museum board member Steve Gibson help her put together the DVD.

Those interested in purchasing a DVD can place an order by phone at (630) 584-6967 or through the museum's website or Facebook page.

The museum has been closed during the coronavirus pandemic, but an employee checks the phone lines and social media channels for correspondence or, in this case, DVD orders.

Driving that car:

Even though we've been under a stay-at-home mandate for nearly a month now, we all know that doesn't mean we absolutely never venture out into the real world.

We know this because a fair number of cars and trucks continue to motor down our streets and into grocery and hardware store parking lots.

As such, it wasn't particularly soothing to read about a CarRentals.com survey that noted 12 percent of people never clean the inside of their car, and 32 percent say they do it once a year.

It goes on to warn that germs and bacteria build up on high-touch surfaces like steering wheels, door handles and seat belts.

And this revelation had me ready to drive my car into a lake and leave it there. Apparently, about 700 different strains of bacteria live in the average vehicle, including some that can lead to things like skin infections or food poisoning.

Toss in coronavirus on the side, and it's almost like we are all driving around in our own petri dishes to cultivate germs.

We've all seen this warning as well - that the average gas pump handle is 6,428 times dirtier than public elevator buttons.

Bottom line? It's not a bad idea to have some disinfecting wipes in your car to clean those things we touch most often. Plus, with the weather getting better, a deep cleaning of the car would use up a few hours during the quarantine.

dheun@sbcglobal.net