Is Anyone Still There?

Hello,   

Is anyone still there?

It’s been a LONG time since my last blog.  Of course, you already know this.  I’m sure you have all been clicking your inboxes daily to see when I would next post my wisdom (not).

 

So let me proceed:

At the beginning of the year, I was talking with Sharon, my consultant, and her parting advice for me was to be patient.  Whenever I hear someone advise patience for me, I always have a moment where I cringe.  If you look to the Bible and do a search for patience, this is one of the verses you will find:

James 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

So patience comes through difficulties.

Little did I know, the entire world was about to learn a HARD lesson.

On March 18, my entire business changed.  In fact, it ground to a halt.  Our office staff continued to come in and perform some tasks that didn’t require patient interaction for a short time, but eventually I had to face something that I NEVER imagined I would ever have to face.  My entire career, I prided myself in always having enough money to pay my bills and my employees.  It quickly became apparent that there was no way I could maintain my business with a total lack of income.  On April 1 I had to have 5 office meetings in which I had to utter these words, “I apologize, but in an effort to make sure we have enough resources to continue once the quarantine is lifted, I’m going to have to furlough most of my staff.” It was a very dark day indeed.

“Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.” Ovid

Over the course of the next weeks, I struggled with filling out paperwork to apply for the governments’ Payroll Protection Plan (PPP).  Fortunately, I was not alone in this task.  Along with my accountant’s office (Rodney Downing) and banks with which I have current loans (FNBC and IberiaBank) I was able to finish the application and wait for the government to answer.  During the weeks leading up to the final application, guidance from the government changed on a daily and sometimes hourly basis.  I am thankful to the ones I mentioned above to keep me moving in the right direction.  I am also thankful to them since each one of the applications were approved.  Many of my colleagues did not have access to this type of help and were shut out of the first round of loans.  What has been useful is knowing that I have people that I can rely on to help me during these times.  

 

Eventually, my loans officially came in.  I immediately called all of my employees and asked them to return to work.  I had some concerns since other optometrists were saying that some of their employees were refusing to come off furlough after having become accustomed to being on unemployment. I was relieved, and proud, that all of my employees returned to work with GREAT attitudes.  This crisis has solidified my knowledge that I have an awesome team of people working alongside me.  

 

Change:

For the first week, I sat at home.  I think I was in a daze just trying to grasp the situation I found myself in.   At this time, not knowing was the hardest part.  How long would this last?  How am I going to financially survive this?  Can we get everything we need for my family?  And of course, fear soon followed.  One of the biggest fears was the realization that things HAD to change.

 

Raymond Lindquist

“Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.”

I wished I could just sit back 2 months, let it all blow over, and just go back to the way things were.  That would be comfortable.  But that is not realistic.  I hate not having an idea of what to do.  I knew there was going to be a “new normal”, but what is that normal.  I’ve spent the last month trying to visualize what a new normal will look like.  

Wayne W. Dyer

“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.”

When this first started and I heard the announcement that China had quarantined an entire city with over 1 million people, I felt like something was not quite right.  Soon after it arrived in the US, though, I leaned more towards those that believed this was overblown and no different than the normal flu.  My ignorance has changed after reading several intelligent papers about the pandemic as well as seeing the devastation in countries like Italy.  I quickly got on board with taking steps to minimize the transmission of this deadly virus.  That would mean change on my part as well as change in my business models.  I needed to come up with strategies to preserve the safety of both my patients and employees who are betting their lives and livelihood on my decisions.  I proceeded along with Anne, Mary and others of my team to scour optometric websites, professional guidelines, government and CDC documents as well as attending many webinars in pursuit of answers to what the new norm should be.  Our focus switched to what can we do now to prepare for when we are allowed to see patients again.  

 

Maya Angelou

“If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”

As we delved deeply into this task, we soon realized that we can make it.  My attitude switched from an “if” mentality to a “when” mentality.  I knew we were working on a goal that could have discreet sub goals to accomplish.  Our first task was to get everyone on board.  To do this, we implemented a daily morning meeting with everyone on our leadership team.  We generally talk together over go-to-meeting (similar to Zoom; who doesn’t know what Zoom is since this started?) for at least an hour.  During these discussions, we talk about when we think the governor will allow us to resume routine care, what steps we have taken up to that meeting, and what steps we need to take before talking again the next morning.  Most of our discussions turn to PPE, social distancing in the workplace and cleanliness.  

 

William Arthur Ward

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”

The following is a brief summary of a sample of changes we have made in anticipation of resuming the “new normal”

Cleaned all areas of the office

Rearranged furniture and office space to comply with social distancing

Acquired PPE for employees

Acquired cleaning materials

Changed policies regarding admittance to the office

Changed processes so patients have the least amount of things to touch while in the office.  

Changed occupancy requirements in attempt to make social distancing possible

….

 

We realize that our patients are an integral part of keeping everyone safe.  Because of this, we are asking all of our patients to help us by doing the following:

Sign all documents digitally if able

Bring personal PPE to your appointment

Pay digitally by phone prior to appointment

Remain in your vehicle until a technician comes to escort you into the office

Don’t touch anything in the office unless absolutely necessary

Thomas Fuller

“All things are difficult before they are easy.”

 We know that things are going to be rough for the first few months.  Hopefully we will be able to quickly adapt, and make adjustments, to this new way of seeing patients.  Please consider that the steps we take are in an effort to keep everyone safe.  PLEASE be patient with us as we will make mistakes as we begin a new way of providing care in a demanding, difficult environment.  PLEASE help us to keep both you and my employees safe.

John F. Kennedy

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

I am excited to say that this downtime and the emphasis on remote care has allowed us to formalize a new way of seeing patients in 2 of our rural clinics.  I am proud to say we will be the first optometric practice in Arkansas and the first in the “South” for the company we are working with to provide Tele-optometry visits in Melbourne and Piggott.  We have been trying to achieve this for over 3 years and I believe we have finally made it happen.  Beginning soon, patients will be able to go to an office in Piggott or Melbourne and be worked up by a technician.  A doctor will then join via a monitor from a remote location and be able to control some of the equipment at those offices from his remote location How cool is that?! By doing this, we will be able to increase the available appointments and allow Piggott and Melbourne to maintain a local optometry office.  I hope everyone there is as excited as I am to experience this revolutionary exam option.

 

So, how do I end this?   Maybe with a quote from one of the scholars from our day:

Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day. A. Milne (Winnie The Pooh)

We will get back to our new norm.  It’ll just take a little

PATIENCE