Local medical practices get a free stash of PPE to help deal with shortages
Dr. Sukhjit Samra gladly skipped office hours Wednesday morning to help distribute free personal protective equipment to local small and midsize medical practices.
Samra is the president of the Stanislaus Medical Society and a family practice physician at Kaiser Modesto.
Shortages of PPE for medical personnel have been a problem throughout the pandemic but have worsened with the recent surge of COVID-19 cases.
Stanislaus Medical Society and the California Medical Society (CMA) partnered with the State of California Office of Emergency Services and Altais, a Blue Shield subsidiary, to distribute the much needed protective equipment to local practices so they can continue to take care of their patients.
“We have more than 100 boxes filled with full gowns, different masks including N-95s and surgical masks, and face shields, and a separate box of hand sanitizer,” said Samra. “It’s all the PPE that we require.”
Samra removed his mask to talk to The Bee from a distance. He said the boxes have enough PPE to last about two months for practices with fewer than 50 health care providers.
CMA is a the state organization that advocates for the well-being of patients, practitioners and the medical profession.
“We’ve been doing events for NorCal for about 2½ weeks with a total of 36 events across the state, covering about 10,000 practices,” Matt Overton, CMA director of business development, said at the event.
He said the state wanted to help the small practices, because those providers have had trouble getting medical-grade PPE. California OES contacted CMA for help.
The Stanislaus Medical Society hosted the event and organized the volunteers and logistics, including preregistration for practices. However, doctors did not have to be a member to receive the supplies.
Representatives from medical practices could drive through the medical society’s parking lot on Saint Paul’s Way to pick up the PPE boxes.
Liza Espinoza is the office manager for Dr. Sunit Patel, a pulmonary specialist in Turlock. Patel’s practice also includes three nurse practitioners. Their patients have lung problems, which make them especially high-risk for severe COVID-19.
“We’ve been struggling to get equipment to keep the doctor and patients safe,” said Espinoza. Shortness of breath is normal for the practice’s patients, she said, “and we want to keep them safe (from COVID-19) and out of the hospital.”
Nicole Doyle, office manager for Family First Medical Care, drove up in a pink-decorated Jeep wearing matching pink scrubs.
“Having enough PPE has been off-and-on, from scarce to abundant,” said Doyle, who works in an office with seven providers. She was thrilled to pick up the PPE.
Among health care workers, primary care and family medicine physicians have the highest risk of death from COVID-19, according to a recent study in a pre-publication release. The researchers found that risk may be higher for primary care doctors because they were more likely to see COVID-19 patients with mild or no symptoms, while not having adequate PPE.
Dr. Samra said going to a doctor’s office is safe and encouraged everyone to take the pandemic seriously and follow public health recommendations.
“The doctors are so appreciative,” said Overton, “This is a great partnership with the State of California, CMA and the county associations.”
He added, “And please, wear a mask.”
This story was produced with financial support from The Stanislaus County Office of Education and the Stanislaus Community Foundation, along with the GroundTruth Project’s Report for America initiative. The Modesto Bee maintains full editorial control of this work.
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This story was originally published August 8, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
