Welcome to Wednesday and your

  NCMS Morning Rounds.

  April 22, 2020

Resources for Maternal and Infant Health During COVID-19

As you know, maternal and infant health has been a focus for the NCMS with plans for another summit meeting in the future. In the meantime, NCMS staff has compiled a few resources for mothers, mothers-to-be and their caregivers.

The University of North Carolina’s Jordan Institute for Families and its 4th Trimester Project updated its postpartum self-care resource, www.newmomhealth.com, to include information related to coronavirus. Access the information here.

Also, Every Mother Counts posted a master list of links related to maternal and infant health in the midst of the pandemic. Review those resources here.

Lastly, practices that utilize group prenatal care models may find the support shared by the Centering Healthcare Institute (CHI) helpful. For example, CHI is offering 1-on-1 time with centering advisors at no cost for Centering sites and is also hosting a Zoom session to share guidance for adapting Centering groups to a virtual format on Thursday, April 24 at 4 p.m. Please note that participants will need a login for a Centering Practice Site to register for the Zoom webinar. Access the CHI COVID-19 resources here.

Virtual Oral health Care Helpline Established

North Carolinians now have access to virtual dental services during the COVID-19 outbreak, thanks to a new initiative at Carolina Dentistry, a part of the University of North Carolina Adams School of Dentistry. A virtual oral health care helpline — (919) 537-3088 – has been set up to provide a way for patients to manage dental care from the comfort of their homes and to help eliminate the burden of dental emergencies on emergency departments during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Carolina Dentistry Virtual Oral Health Care Helpline is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and offers referrals for dental emergencies that must be addressed in person.

For patients who have urgent needs across the state and cannot easily travel to Chapel Hill, Carolina Dentistry will provide patients with information for their closest dental clinic.

Oral health care providers across North Carolina may also call to speak with a specialist for patient consultations and referring patients with dental emergencies.

Learn more by visiting carolinadentistry.org

Taking to the Skies to Help

Longtime NCMS member Dickson Schaefer, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Fayetteville Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine has been featured prominently in media reports throughout the state lately. Dr. Schaefer has taken to the skies, flying patients’ specimens and test results to and from Fayetteville to speed up the process of finding out COVID-19 test results.

Dr. Schaefer told reporters he loves to fly planes and in the past he has flown somewhere just to get a hamburger – what his pilot friends like to call a ‘$100 burger.’ Now, Dr. Schaefer is enjoying helping people while participating in a hobby he loves – the perfect melding of his passions for medicine and flying.

Here is some of the coverage:

In the News

Everything We Know About Coronavirus Immunity and Antibodies – and Plenty We Still Don’t, STAT, 4-20-20

Learning Opportunity

The American Public Health Association and the National Academy of Medicine will present the next in their series of COVID-19 Conversations TODAY, Wednesday, April 22, from 5-6:30 p.m. Today’s webinar will focus on COVID-19 Testing: Possibilities, Challenges, and Ensuring Equity. Hear from trusted experts in such fields as public health, infectious disease, risk communication and crisis standards of care. Register Now.

You can also access recordings of previous webinars in the series here.