Finding Hope

Sadly, there is so much suffering and hardship out there. A dear family recently had to lay off or furlough over 300 beloved employees. The mom of another dear family flew to the other side of the country to visit her mother who had open-heart surgery, only to be told she had to stay away and return home. One of my own family members just suffered a horrible MS attack and needed to go in for IV steroids.

In this greatest time of challenge, I also believe, now more than ever, that we need to allow hope to shine through. Here is what a beautiful 10 year has to teach us….

I have so much hope, because I see our community coming together in the most amazing way to protect our most vulnerable. I have hope, because I see the outpouring of kindness and generosity as we all work to support one another. I feel gratitude to our amazing scientific community, who have come together in a way that has never been seen before to quickly find widely available treatments and solutions to this challenge.

A few months ago, our countries were all divided. We had a government that could only agree to disagree, and inaction was the only action our politicians were willing to take. Our population had become focused on the self, and lost sight of the greater good. Look at how we are coming together to help one another at the local, national and international levels. This virus is forcing us to take a moment and really reflect on what matters to us as individuals and as a society.

There is no doubt that this virus has the ability to ravage our country (and world) and kill millions of individuals. It can cause so much harm at so many different levels. There is also a chance that this picture turns out much much LESS worse than what people are fearing. As a society that comes together, we can accomplish anything!!

Some very smart people are also hopeful!

https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-03-22/coronavirus-outbreak-nobel-laureate

Many sages have taught that time and energy are finite. We can choose to expend our finite mental resources worrying about the negative, or we can channel it towards the positive. This is what our leaders are asking of us. Perhaps we can choose to be VERY aware and careful, AND simultaneously optimistic and fearless.

We are a community coming together. As one example, one of our moms, who is a brilliant therapist, is offering her services to those who need mental health support. Another mom, who is a teacher has offered to support all of you who are home schooling for the first time.

To do my little part, I have created the following forum to help connect our communities. If any tech-savvy person is interested in taking this forum over, please let me know! Please let me know if there are other broad topics I should include/change. I chose this platform because you can freely post without registering (forum can be secured if abuse occurs). I hope this becomes a platform to create a lot of good across our society. Feel free to share this as you see fit.

http://pub41.bravenet.com/forum/3494255200/

OUR OFFICE:

We are keeping our office open, while maintaining social distance and cleanliness. We have reduced our hours to 8-3, Monday through Friday to allow the ladies at the office to be able to also care for their families. Every day, we will have a physician available at the clinic. Petra is working hard to make sure we keep our supplements in stock and available to you as needed.

We are adapting and moving into the digital domain to do our best to serve you. We are testing digital devices that can allow us to check ears and listen to the heart and lungs from the comfort of your own home.

Sick Visits: We are now doing video calls to go over any acute health concerns. If there is a serious concern, then of course we are happy to see your child in our office. As noted before, unfortunately we do have to screen sick patients before we schedule the sick appointment to minimize the exposure within our office.

Follow-ups: We are offering digital/video follow-ups to discuss any prior (or new) more chronic health issues. We have already found this to be a great way to review labs, dietary recommendations and many other things.

Well visits: Since we are not certain how long we will be asked to limit contact, we are now offering digital/video follow-ups and well checks. Outside of young infants and babies that must be physically checked regularly (weight/growth/heart), for the older children (> 1 year) we are now offering video well checks to allow us to continue our discussions about health and wellness, and then conduct the physical exam, vitals, etc. at a later time when the risk of exposure and harm to society is less.

Of course, these are all optional. If you are not comfortable with these digital options, we are happy to accommodate you in the office once things clear, or on a case-by-case basis.

Please call the office to coordinate any digital visits.

For the scheduled visits, please use this link to connect:

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/6074800961

COVID-19 TESTING:

·      Our clinic: We have been told that it may be weeks before we received our test kits. We are waiting…

·      LA CITY: Los Angeles has set up a new website to offer testing to those most in need: https://lacovidprod.service-now.com/rrs

·      URGENT CARE: Through our families, we have found out that VIP Urgent Care in the Valley is offering testing per the discretion of their physician. https://www.vip-urgentcare.com.  VIP does accept most private insurances.

·      MOBILE TESTING: We have found a mobile testing service. They charge $299 and will come out to your home to test. Please call Anabel (719) 856-5647

It is truly a joy to be working with all of you. In my heart, I firmly believe we can all get through this very challenging time successfully, and hopefully become a better, wiser society as a result.

As a reminder, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have an elderly family member who is becoming ill. I am happy to work with their physician to do what we need to help them.

In health!

Pejman Katiraei

More positive news shared by one of our families….