Coping with Covid 19: Parrott alumni on frontlines
Parrott alumna Janet Leighton, a nurse at New Hanover Medical Center, suits up for work in the ICU. Submitted photo.
“So many of our graduates have gone on to careers in health care,” notes Parrott Academy college adviser Mitzi Moye. “We’re proud of them as they face the daily challenges of combating this pandemic’s effects.”
Locally, Dr. Ryan Gallaher, a 2002 APA graduate, heads the infectious disease department of Physicians East, works with infection control at UNC-Lenoir Hospital, and consults with other health facilities. COVID-19 currently consumes the vast majority of his time as he works with individual patients and helps implement infection protocols. “This crisis has shown how fragile our health care system can be,” he noted. “But getting through this will let us improve the quality of that system.”
Gallaher’s classmate Dr. Bobby Scott is a family physician and Assistant Professor of Family Medicine for the Cabarrus Family Medicine Residency Program. Though his time in the hospital has thus far not required direct care of any confirmed COVID victims, through virtual visits he triages patients based on symptoms and coordinates testing for the disease. “We try to keep them out of the clinics and ER, if possible, to limit spread.” Scott appreciates the flexibility that many insurers have shown in covering telemedicine and virtual care during the crisis.“I hope this valuable and convenient service will continue in the post-pandemic world.”
Dr. Holly Ray, another APA grad of 2002, is the Medical Director of the Surgery Navigation Center at Wilmington’s New Hanover Regional Medical Center. She’s currently developing a virtual Covid monitoring system for a seven-county region using telehealth monitoring, check-in phone calls from medical students, and coordination with community paramedics. She says her work with patients battling Coronavirus at home “helps prepare our hospital for potential surges in patient volume.”
Nurse Janet Leighton, APA Class of 2016, also works at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. “Our staff worries about being potentially inundated. But we’re trained to face highly infectious agents.” Leighton, who usually works with the neurosurgery staff, recently worked in the ICU.
As the practice manager at Gastroenterology East in Greenville, Carmen Stancill, an APA 2007 graduate, has processed guidelines and protocols for her practice, even as they change swiftly. “We’ve had to furlough many on our staff. Even though I could work from home, I feel I need to stay, to offer stability and show our care team that I’m in this with them.”
She credits Parrott with helping her develop that sense of dedication. “Also, the ability to learn quickly and stay on top of new information is something I learned at APA. Right now, every day changes. Every day holds a new challenge.”
