- Good afternoon, this is David Baiada,
the CEO here at BAYADA Home Health Care.
Today is Friday, August 21st,
and this is your weekly COVID-19 CEO update.
Today, we're gonna kick off with Nora Triola, as usual,
to talk through a pretty sticky issue
around symptom identification with the COVID-19 virus
and how it collides with an issue that many of us
deal with related to seasonal allergies.
And so, Nora, why don't you jump right in,
and talk to us about the overlap
in identification of symptoms?
- Sure, David, and thanks again for allowing me some time
to speak with our clinical team,
who are doing a marvelous job caring for our clients,
and we work very diligently
to keep you all healthy and safe,
and one of the things that we've seen is over time
the symptoms have continued to change.
It was a bit easier when we started back in March
and we had three little symptoms to worry about,
fever, cough, and shortness of breath,
and we know that those symptoms have expanded.
We now know that there's a whole lot of symptoms around
headache, fatigue, sore throat, congestion in the nose.
And as we've continued through the pandemic,
we're now into spring and summer,
and our allergy season is kicking up,
and what we're finding is that when we interview
those individuals that begin to develop symptoms,
we often hear you report to us that,
"Gee, I thought it was just a little bit of an allergy,
"thought that that congestion that I had
"and my little runny nose was an allergy.
"I didn't think I had COVID-19."
And the reality was that some of you have then gone on
and get tested and you are actually
positive with COVID-19.
And so, this is happening across the country,
and in fact, the CDC is aware of it
and they've created this nice little tool for us to use,
so that we can help distinguish between allergies
and symptoms of COVID-19.
And so what you see here in the graphic
are really the circle that identifies
the common COVID-19 symptoms,
and then the circle on the right that identifies
the seasonal allergies,
and there's really two that distinguish allergies.
Those are itchy, watery eyes, or sneezing.
If you have any other symptom, we need you to think,
have I been exposed to somebody,
do I possibly have COVID-19, and to monitor yourself
and get tested, because that runny nose or that sore throat
has proven to be more than a symptom
of allergy and actually a symptom of COVID-19.
So we wanna keep you safe, keep you checking yourself.
When you see any of those in the middle,
cough, shortness of breath, headache, sore throat,
you know, congestion, which, you know,
you might associate with allergies,
don't think allergies, think COVID first,
and then follow up with what you're supposed to do,
which is to monitor those symptoms,
speak with your primary care physician,
and consider testing.
It's only for sneezing and watery, itchy eyes
that I say think allergy, those two symptoms alone.
So hopefully that helps keep you safe,
gets you through the seasonal allergy season,
and through COVID-19 safely.
Take care, and thanks for all you do.
- Thanks, Nora, this is a hard one.
I appreciate your continued guidance
to create clarity and support for all those out,
trying to figure all this stuff out, myself included.
I wanna wrap up with our common
and favorite issue around PPE.
This is some recognition of Tina in Hawaii
in our skills lab getting used to her face shield,
which, you know, as I've mentioned on prior updates,
is really just such a difficult thing
that so many of our clinicians
and our clients and their families
are grappling with every day.
We're trying to build and maintain
an intimate relationship where we're inside someone's home,
helping them in a time of need,
and we have this piece of plastic
standing between us and our client,
and particularly in instances
where it feels safe without it, right?
And it's just this added thing to worry about.
And I have empathy for,
and really admiration, for all of our clinicians out there
that are adapting to these changes week over week
to ensure that they stay safe
and that their clients and family stay safe.
I'll also make mention that the background here
that Tina is looking out at during her skills lab
is not a painting.
It is the actual view from the skills lab
in this BAYADA office in Hawaii.
It sure beats the view from the office
that I usually spend time in of a beautiful parking lot.
And so, thanks to Tina,
but really, thanks to each and every one of you out there
that's navigating all of these PPE challenges
each and every day.
Nora, anything else to chime in on this issue?
- David, thanks, thanks, actually, there are two things
that I wanted to chime in.
Tina, thank you so much for modeling that safety precaution,
because your mucous membranes of your eyes are the place,
along with your nose and your mouth,
that the virus can enter.
And so we wanna make sure those are protected,
and you can protect them with goggles, too.
So we have goggles.
If goggles would be more comfortable,
don't be afraid to order those from global support center,
or 4,300, as I sometimes call it,
and you can get goggles for yourself.
But we're also really trying to update some of our photos
and make sure that we are demonstrating good use of PPE.
So we'd love these photos,
and I know that I've challenged you before
to be competitive and send your photos in,
or send your ideas in, and you respond in spades.
So please go ahead and send us those photos
of our clinical teams out in the field modeling good PPE,
and we'll be able to use those for all sorts
of good things going forward.
So send them on in, and thanks again for all you do.
Back to you, David.
- Thanks, Nora, appreciate the guidance.
Thanks to Tina and to each and every one of you,
just like Tina that's adapting on the fly,
being creative, flexible, and determined
to ensure we keep you safe and keep your clients safe.
We'll see you next week.