It is Monday, August 3, 2020

This morning we sign off from our answering service at 8:00 am to take phone calls directly from our office.

There are no walk-in appointments at either office until further notice.

Dr. Ben Meares is our on call pediatrician today. In addition to typical office duties, our On Call Pediatrician takes calls overnight beginning at 5:00 pm.

RCAM Pandemic Mode

If you have an appointment today, be aware of a few changes:

• Arrive a few minutes before your appointment and call us (919-781-7490) when you arrive in the parking lot. We will then call you up to our office when your exam room is ready
• Masks are required for everyone above 3 years old (we know there may be some exceptions where a mask is impossible developmentally and obviously that is okay; a mask is required for everyone else)

TeleHealth Visits

Drs. Ben Meares and Sarah Owrey are the pediatricians seeing TeleHealth visits today

• We’ve added another option that is popular and consistent with our goals for limiting the spread of illness
• You can see an RCAM pediatrician via video chat for a TeleHealth visit for a sick visit or a well concern
• Here is everything you need to know to set up a TeleHealth Visit

Well Child Care at Duraleigh

Drs. Lily Harris, Ben Meares, Emily Mims, and Tom Sena are our pediatricians seeing well patients today at Duraleigh

• All well appointments will take place at our Duraleigh office as long as the patient is well
• You will notice that nurses and pediatricians are wearing masks and gloves
  
• Exam rooms are cleaned between each patient
• Sick individuals may not accompany the well check (no sick siblings; no sick parents; everyone in your party needs to be well)

Sick Child Care at Brier Creek

Dr. Jen Long is our pediatrician working today at Brier Creek

• Sick appointments may be seen at our Brier Creek office
• During the coronavirus pandemic, we will only schedule an in-person evaluation if – after a TeleHealth Visit – it is determined that it would be best to have an in-person evaluation
• You will notice that nurses and pediatricians are wearing masks and gloves (and, in some cases, more PPE than that)
• Exam rooms are cleaned between each patient
• To further limit exposures, children being assessed with symptoms of possible coronavirus / COVID-19 will be evaluated in their car at the Brier Creek office

Important Numbers

• Urgent calls outside regular hours: 919-781-7490
• After hours backup number: 919-831-5526
• Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222

It is Friday, July 31, 2020

This morning we sign off from our answering service at 8:00 am to take phone calls directly from our office.

There are no walk-in appointments at either office until further notice.

Dr. Todd Harris is our on call pediatrician today. In addition to typical office duties, our On Call Pediatrician takes calls overnight beginning at 5:00 pm.

RCAM Pandemic Mode

If you have an appointment today, be aware of a few changes:

• Arrive a few minutes before your appointment and call us (919-781-7490) when you arrive in the parking lot. We will then call you up to our office when your exam room is ready
• Masks are required for everyone above 3 years old (we know there may be some exceptions where a mask is impossible developmentally and obviously that is okay; a mask is required for everyone else)

TeleHealth Visits

Drs. Lily Harris and Todd Harris are our pediatricians seeing TeleHealth visits today

• We’ve added another option that is popular and consistent with our goals for limiting the spread of illness
• You can see an RCAM pediatrician via video chat for a TeleHealth visit for a sick visit or a well concern
• Here is everything you need to know to set up a TeleHealth Visit

Well Child Care at Duraleigh

Drs. Jamila Fletcher, Lily Harris, Todd Harris, and Jen Long are our pediatricians seeing well patients today at Duraleigh

• All well appointments will take place at our Duraleigh office as long as the patient is well
• You will notice that nurses and pediatricians are wearing masks and gloves
  
• Exam rooms are cleaned between each patient
• Sick individuals may not accompany the well check (no sick siblings; no sick parents; everyone in your party needs to be well)

Sick Child Care at Brier Creek

Dr. Rick Gessner is our pediatrician working today at Brier Creek

• Sick appointments may be seen at our Brier Creek office
• During the coronavirus pandemic, we will only schedule an in-person evaluation if – after a TeleHealth Visit – it is determined that it would be best to have an in-person evaluation
• You will notice that nurses and pediatricians are wearing masks and gloves (and, in some cases, more PPE than that)
• Exam rooms are cleaned between each patient
• To further limit exposures, children being assessed with symptoms of possible coronavirus / COVID-19 will be evaluated in their car at the Brier Creek office

Important Numbers

• Urgent calls outside regular hours: 919-781-7490
• After hours backup number: 919-831-5526
• Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222

It’s 4th of July Weekend, July 3, 4, and 5, 2020

• This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we will be available by phone and in the RCAM TeleHealth Clinic
  
• After 8:00am, our answering service will begin to take messages for the weekend nurse working with the Pediatricians on-call
• Our nurse will begin returning calls at 9:00am

Newborn Clinic

• We will plan a morning clinic to follow-up with some of our well infants born over this past week

TeleHealth Visits from Home

• You can see an RCAM pediatrician via video chat for a TeleHealth visit for a sick visit
• The RCAM pediatrician will use methods available to them at that time to assess and make recommendations about how best to treat your child
• There is a charge for using this clinic; typically that charge is covered in some way by your health insurance plan (usually similar to how that plan covers in-person visits)
• Beyond the TeleHealth Visits, we do not plan to have our typical in-person sick clinic this weekend

The Weekend Line Up

• Friday On-Call Pediatrician: Jamila Fletcher, MD
• Saturday 4th of July On-Call Pediatrician: Todd Harris, MD
• Sunday On-Call Pediatrician: Jamila Fletcher, MD

Important Numbers

• Urgent calls outside regular hours: 919-781-7490
• After hours backup number: 919-831-5526
• Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222

July 2, 2020 – Important office holiday schedule alert:

Tomorrow, Friday, July 3, 2020, is an official RCAM office holiday.

• Our office will be officially closed this Friday, July 3 in observance of the Independence Day holiday
• Like everyday, one of our pediatricians will be on call to help with your child’s urgent health needs
• There will be a morning clinic to follow-up with some of our well infants born over this past week
• On holidays and weekends – due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic – sick patients may be scheduled to see our on call Pediatrician for a TeleHealth visit; we will not be able to see sick patients in person

June 18, 2020 – Our office mourns with our community.

The owners, the pediatricians, the nurses, and the administrative staff of Raleigh Children & Adolescents Medicine – our entire RCAM-ily – we all mourn.

We grieve the murder of George Floyd and too many other black men and women whose lives have senselessly been taken. We are listening to the voices within our community and to those across the nation who are protesting racial injustice.

We have devoted our careers to caring for children. This is what we believe:

• Every child deserves to feel safe
• Every child deserves the chance to thrive and live their best life
• Every child deserves to be treated fairly and with dignity

June 9, 2020 – You may now call and schedule your child’s well visit – previous restrictions on which well visits we can schedule have been removed.

Let’s review where things are now with RCAM Pandemic Mode:

UPDATE: SCHEDULING A VISIT

• All well visits are scheduled to be seen at our Duraleigh office
  • RECENT CHANGE: Now scheduling well visits for children of any age
    
• Medication follow-up visits are scheduled for out Duraleigh office
  • RECENT CHANGE: We are moving these from TeleHealh visits back to in-office visits
  • Examples of this type of visit: ADHD follow-up, Asthma follow-up, follow-up of any condition where our pediatricians are prescribing ongoing medication
• Any illness – any symptoms that need evaluation: there are 2 ways to initiate an evaluation
  • Option 1: call and speak to one of our nurses
  • Option 2: call and schedule a TeleHealth evaluation with one of our Pediatricians via a video link
  • If further evaluation is needed following one of the above options, the nurse or pediatrician may recommend an in-person visit at the Brier Creek office
    • In person inside the Brier Creek office (illness without typical symptoms of COVID-19)
    • In person outside the Brier Creek office in the Curbside Clinic (typically if symptoms include fever, cough, or shortness of breath)
      

UPDATE: FOR YOUR SAFETY, THE SAFETY OF OUR STAFF,  AND THE SAFETY OF OTHERS

1. Wear a Mask: everyone coming inside our office over the age of two years is expected to wear a mask
   • We know there are some situations where wearing a mask is impossible – we understand and that’s okay
2. Sick individuals may not accompany a visit (no sick siblings; no sick parents; everyone in your party needs to be well)
3. When possible, only one parent accompany the child being seen
4. To limit your time / exposure while in our office, call from the parking lot when you arrive – when your room is ready, we will call you to come into the office

It’s Memorial Day Weekend, May 23, 24, and 25, 2020

• This Saturday, Sunday, and Monday we will be available by phone and in the RCAM TeleHealth Clinic
  
• After 8:00am, our answering service will begin to take messages for the weekend nurse working with the Pediatricians on-call
• Our nurse will begin returning calls at 9:00am

Newborn Clinic

• We will plan a morning clinic to follow-up with some of our well infants born over this past week

TeleHealth Visits from Home

• We’ve added an option that is popular and consistent with current goals of “social distancing”
• You can see an RCAM pediatrician via video chat for a TeleHealth visit for a sick visit or a well concern
• The RCAM pediatrician will use methods available to them at that time to assess and make recommendations about how best to treat your child
• There is a charge for using this clinic; typically that charge is covered in some way by your health insurance plan (usually similar to how that plan covers in-person visits)
• Beyond the TeleHealth Visits, we do not plan to have our typical in-person sick clinic this weekend

The Weekend Line Up

• Saturday On-Call Pediatrician: Lily Harris, MD
• Sunday On-Call Pediatrician: Jen Long, MD
• Memorial Day Monday On-Call Pediatrician: Ben Meares, MD

Important Numbers

• Urgent calls outside regular hours: 919-781-7490
• After hours backup number: 919-831-5526
• Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222

May 6, 2020 – Six weeks ago began “RCAM: Pandemic Mode” as summarized below:

RECAP

• Only sick patients seen at our Brier Creek office or our Curbside Clinic
• Only well patients seen at our Duraleigh office
• We limited our well visit schedule to appointments that were time-sensitive (for example: most newborn care, visits associated with vaccines)
• Two weeks later we started offering TeleHealth Visits.

We appreciate everyone’s cooperation. Your support of our office during a challenging time has meant a lot.

WE WOULD LIKE TO ADD THE FOLLOWING…

At this time, we will begin to also schedule well visits for all children ages 11 years old and up.

[SIDE NOTE ABOUT SICK VISITS – Sick visits will continue to follow the plan set up in this post from March 22nd – NOW BACK TO WELL VISITS]

These are the well visits we are now scheduling:

• Any well visit associated with a required vaccine (that includes most well visits under 2 years old and the 4 or 5 year old who need their pre-kindergarten vaccines)
• Any well visit ages 11 years old and up

ABOUT YOUR WELL VISIT APPOINTMENT

To try and limit exposure to illness for your child and our staff, we will require the following with all well visits:

1. Sick individuals may not accompany the well check (no sick siblings; no sick parents; everyone in your party needs to be well)
2. Everyone above the age of two years old needs to wear a mask or face covering when they come to our office (we know it may be a challenge for some, but do the best you can)

Lots of Helpful Information at the CDC Website…

April 20, 2020 – This past weekend RCAM lost one of our giants.

Alan Goldman, MD passed away late Friday night after battling an extended illness.

RCAM Pediatrician from 1971 to 2007

I have been lucky to have worked with some talented, good people. Alan most definitely was one of the most talented and one of the best.

He worked as a pediatrician at RCAM for 36 years.

He went to Harvard University for his undergraduate degree. Anyone who knew him found that easy to believe, because he was smarter than the rest of us. You picked up on that because it was obvious, not because he ever flaunted it.

He was an accomplished pediatrician. He was the first pediatrician in Wake County who had specialty neonatology training and helped to advance neonatal intensive care in this area.

Never a Negative Word

Alan had a very pleasant and calm demeanor. I never saw him frazzled, and I never heard him say a bad or even negative word about anyone the entire time I knew him.

I will write that again just to be clear. I never heard him say a bad or even negative word about anyone.

We worked together for 11 years. There was a time when we shared an office. I saw him plenty away from work – typically, it involved some carpentry (one of his many talents).

Never. A. Bad. Word.

He Brought the Party

Alan was fun, and he was almost always working on something that would bring people together for the sake of entertainment.

So many of us have been regaled by something Alan planned: Poker nights, Christmas party games, Super Bowl games, March Madness brackets. The list goes on and on…

I knew Alan to always be preparing for the next gathering where everyone would be entertained by some sort of quiz, riddle, or trying to remember the words to “Good King Wenceslas” (How many Jewish men know all the words to “Good King Wenceslas”? Alan did.).

Our Hearts Are Heavy

Words are difficult at times like this. Alan was truly one of the RCAM greats.

He set a high bar for excellence in skill, attitude, and community.

Alan meant so much to our office, but – also – he meant so much to so many others.

Our hearts ache for the Goldman family.

UPDATE 4/21/2020: Dr. Goldman’s family wrote a beautiful remembrance that you can find here

April 13, 2020 – So imagine that today is your birthday.

Imagine that the candles are already lit when you realize that you’re in the middle of a pandemic, and – as a pediatrician – your whole day has been about limiting the spread of germs.

In other words, there could be no “blowing out the cake.”

At that moment, we needed a hero…

…Someone needed to save the day…

…And it was that someone’s birthday.

Happy Birthday Dr. Gessner! You are just as quick on your feet as you ever were!