Not for the reasons you may be thinking. It isn’t that I would rather not be at work, because despite the challenges, I do really love my job and feel honored to be serving my community in this capacity! That is not to say I wouldn’t mind spending more of my time hiking, exploring, reading, socializing, and pushing my limits outside of work. We probably all wish we had more time to do the things we enjoy in our free time. I just wish my services weren’t needed.

I wish we could prevent all the illness, suffering and injury that humans endure. Not every healthcare need is preventable, but a heck of a lot can be. I continue to be committed to our communities when needed, and I want to be there for you when my education, training and compassion need to be deployed. But I am also overjoyed when we take steps to prevent any pain and suffering, and truly believe that proactive healthcare is more helpful, sustainable and effective than reactive healthcare. We, my healthcare colleagues and I, are here for you, either way.

And here are some COVID-19 numbers hot off the press from Clearwater Valley Health. These are numbers based off of the testing done on site, including those for pre-procedure testing, universal admissions testing, and COVID booth testing through CVH.

7-day prevalence: 19.0%

30-day prevalence: 26.3%

Our referral hospitals continue to be running at capacity, Kootenai Health has no beds and there are no regular adult beds and only one adult intensive care unit (ICU) bed available in the entire Spokane area as of September 26, 2021.