A letter to my husband
By Dr. Taunya St. Pierre
This is a letter to my husband and all those other people who help to provide health care and frequently get overlooked. They are contributing essential services during this COVID crisis.
My husband works for a telecommunications company in its Electronic Medical Records division. Since the middle of March, he and his co-workers have provided support to physicians on transitioning to a virtual private network (VPN) so they can provide patient care virtually from home, entering new billing codes, supporting hospitals when their systems are not working properly and many other IT tasks that I cannot even begin to understand. They are working overtime hours to keep up with the increasing needs of physicians and hospitals at this time. They are even busier when they are on call for a week at a time and are required to provide 24-hour services. At a time when there is less in-person health care happening in Canada and more virtual care, they are providing the health care system with their know-how and support to make this happen. During a time of uncertainty, everyone plays their role in contributing to the most positive outcome possible and our high-tech people are no exception.
Thank you.
Taunya St. Pierre, MD, FRCPC, is certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She works as a community physiatrist and electomyographer at the Sports Medicine Centre in Kanata and Heritage Fitness in Carleton Place, Ont.
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