Wednesday April 8, 2020
Dear, Imagine Plastic Surgery patients, friends and employees,
Most of our lives have been completely turned upside down by the Covid-19 virus.
How do we survive, contribute, cope and in the relative near future return to a more normal situation?
THE PRESENT
As people, we are facing one of the greatest challenges in our lifetime. We are at war with an invisible enemy that attacks indiscriminately.
Everyone is susceptible. Its most vulnerable victims are the aged and those that have compromised health conditions…and we are now seeing in daily reports, it is also attacking our front-line healthcare soldiers.
As I reflect on our current events, I look to the past to see how our past leaders inspired us through times of national threats. I am reminded of several historically significant national challenges when our nation was at war ...some pertinent quotes:
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THE TRUTH
From our civil war president, Abraham Lincoln.
“I am a firm believer in the people.
If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis.
The great point is to bring them the real facts.”
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KEEPING A PERSPECTIVE
From 34th president, Franklin D. Roosevelt (to be our future WW II war time president). The year was 1934 the peak of the “Great Depression”. Expert from his presidential inaugural address is apropos for today
“This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today.
This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first, let me assert my firm belief that
the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.
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A CALL TO ACTION
Another president, John F. Kennedy, during his 1960 inaugural address, facing an escalation of the “Cold War” a marked proliferation of nuclear weapons of mass proliferation, losing the space race and facing a very divided nation.
He announced that "we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty”....the new president then challenged that Americans must act together...”
Ask not what your government can do for you but what you can do for your government.”
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WHAT CAN WE DO AS PEOPLE
“Each in our own personal way we can help”
Number one
Follow the CDC guidelines:
1. Shelter in place: STAY HOME SAVE LIVES!
2. Social distancing
3. Wash our hands
4. Clean surfaces
5. Quarantine: if exposed to any one you have had contact with or exposed to COVID-19
6. While in public: wear a non-surgical mask or face cover
Number two:
1.
Stay connected with our family, friends colleagues and employees.
2. Do those things that will create a positive outlook
such as exercise, restart hobbies, read that book you haven't had time to, plant a garden, self-improvement etc.
As a company here at Imagine Plastic Surgery want you to know that we are all in this battle together. We are prepared and ready to support efforts to save lives...
Based on CDC guidelines we closed our office and surgical center not only to help contain the covid-19 virus but just importantly to conserve our surgical supplies (masks, PPE’s, etc...
We have offered our surgical center, our office, our supplies and equipment and are working with our local hospital.
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COPING
Trying to understand my feelings of unfairness, non-productive worry, angst, being scared for my family/elderly mothers, my two sons who front line E.R physicians, worry about my employees, my colleagues, my patients and my personal finances...and so on.
I thought back to medical school days and a book I read by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, MD, (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American psychiatrist an internationally best-selling author, she discussed her theory of the five stages of grief and coping.
These five stages,
denial
,
anger
,
bargaining
,
depression
and
acceptance
are to me a framework that allows me to understand, learn and to live with my feelings.
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A PRAYER
One my favorite references it in times of personal challenges is referred to as the Serenity prayer attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)
“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things, I cannot change.
courage to change, the things I can.
and wisdom to know the diffe
rence.”
This “prayer” has helped me personally to put previous and current challenges in perspective and how deal with them.
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THE FUTURE
As a wise woman, Florence Hardesty (my living mother) often said in trying times:
“This too shall pass”.
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During
this trying time we need to hear and always speak the truth, keep our perspective, do what we can, use positive coping mechanisms, pray for wisdom and guidance and
YES
:
THIS SHALL PASS and
better days are ahead!!
Stay safe and healthy,
Dr. Hardesty
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Please follow the CDC's recommendation for hygiene and to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
If you have signs of:
Shortness of breath, fever, cough, flu-like symptoms please call your primary doctors office and they will direct you to proper testing or management.
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Did you know Dr. Hardesty has personally written and recorded video blogs and blogs for you! Click the video to learn more
Our Instagram also has hundreds of Before and Afters!
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