AAP Voices

My two partners and I have two pediatric offices in San Diego. We made a commitment to keep our doors open throughout the pandemic. We have been available to take care of COVID-19 and other infections, along with injuries, illnesses, wellness checks — and overwhelming anxiety.

Parents are worried. At the beginning there was a sense of the unknown as the world was closing down. Schools were shuttered. Parents have been seeing daily mortality reports in the media.

Kids are anxious, too. I’ve talked to teenagers experiencing full-on panic attacks. About a month ago, there was extreme generalized anxiety — parents and their kids.
I answered probably 100 calls and texts a day about COVID-19.

We have done what we needed to do to be available to our patients — buying thousands of dollars of cleaning supplies, doing car visits, limiting the number of patients inside the office. At one point, I stood outside in the rain during a car visit, making sure not to touch anything.

I’m proud of my colleagues and other pediatricians. We work hard, and we have done a really good job taking care of our patients.

So while my practice has taken a huge financial loss to stay open to take care of the maybe eight to 10 patients who now come in, we have kept our doors open. We have cared for our community.

Our office paid for COVID-19 tests. Thousand of dollars. Some carriers are just now starting to determine payment so we haven’t been able to bill for it. But we did what we needed to do, which was to just buy it and hope things sort out.

We have worried that we will bring the virus home to our children and other family members, putting them at risk.

That’s why it felt like an insult when the federal government excluded pediatricians from provider relief funding. That funding is necessary to help pediatricians offset costs and stay in practice.

We, pediatricians, don’t expect much, because we are committed and passionate about taking care of children. That’s our number one concern.

But I do hope that government officials realize the value of front-line pediatricians and that they will support our ability to continue serving children.

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