This notice was originally provided to patients starting March 17, 2020.
Listening to a news report last Tuesday, I had every reason to see the decision I have made, and am about discuss, as an easy one. It was a report from a Doctor in Italy. He is currently resting at home with his family after three weeks of constant emergency care dealing with severe cases of COVID-19. Among the many horrible tragedies he reported, several stood out. He said that they (the hospital) had 20 deaths from the virus yesterday and 50 new admittances. He said the staff is constantly compromised by illness or exhaustion. He said they must decide regularly who gets administered intensive, life saving care and who doesn’t because of a lack of supplies. He says that only weeks ago this was unimaginable, even as the numbers of cases grew.
He went on to describe the most painful parts of his journey. He described caring for colleagues stricken with the virus. He described having to prevent family from visiting loved ones, even in the hours of their deaths. He described how physicians from entirely different fields of medicine were getting quick courses on respiratory disease in order to administer care. He described how often, lost in the chaos of all of this suffering, it was not uncommon that the first time family might find out about the passing of a loved one is when they call the hospital themselves. The staff can at times get so overwhelmed with urgent responses to other crisis that they occasionally and mournfully fail to make the call.
Here is the simple truth. There is a risk that by keeping my clinic open, I invite infection to the clinic. The minute that happens the clinic becomes a place that spreads this virus. Although my clinic is a simple, place with little traffic, I have to evaluate that risk.
When I do a cost/benefit evaluation, I have to be honest with myself. The care that I can provide in treatment currently has to be evaluated against the risk. This disease spreads exponentially and will only be slowed by aggressive “social distancing”. Moreover, we have limited resources when it comes to testing for this virus. Although it is said that we have only one case in North Dakota, I feel certain that the actual number is much higher. What is now 100 cases becomes 1000 within days and then 1000 rapidly 10,000. There are not enough resources to provide care for this many patients. Many will die. The only frightening cost for me closing my doors is my loss of income and the toll that will take over time financially. Although I know many of my patients are suffering, I believe I can continue to provide herbal therapy in order to assist. Hopefully, if supplies stay strong throughout the whole quarantine phase of this outbreak, I can provide therapeutic herbal care for those with more mild infections. In the end, keeping my doors open to provide treatment has to be balanced against the greater fear of contributing to the loss of someones loved family member by creating a vector for the spread of this disease.
I hope that a month from now, I can look at this and laugh. I hope that this turns out to be the anxious manifestation of someone wrapped in a media frenzy. But really in the end, I hope to save lives.
Red River Health will be closed to providing treatments until further notice. Please keep any currently scheduled appointments, however I anticipate the clinic will be closed for treatment for at least two full weeks. If you have scheduled appointments during that time I will send updates on the closure I have outlined in the same way that I send reminders.
I will be available at the clinic by phone and email as usual. I will be available to provide herbs at the clinic by appointment (I would prefer all visits for herbs be arranged) and can have them shipped directly as needed. I will monitor the outbreak regularly, along with any innovations in treatment in order to determine my strategies and availability. I will continue to work on a social media presence during the outbreak where I can communicate more details and focus on wellness through this challenge. I would be happy to provide all the necessary support for your health through correspondence and herbal prescriptions. With any free time, I will continue to work on creating a clinic blog, and further developing my cannabis products.
We are in the midst of the greatest challenge of my lifetime although I hope that statement is quickly proven as horrendously hyperbolic. Our price now may be isolation, inconvenience, economic hardship, and the intense fear of an unknown future. But the lives of all of our most vulnerable, and the lives of the health care providers that will be on the front line of this challenge are greater by an order off magnitude than any of those hardships.
Thank you and stay well!
