Letter to the editor: KC health care workers are stepping up to fight coronavirus

Capable hands

As a physician, mother and grandmother, I have rarely gotten public sympathy or offers of assistance. According to the American Medical Association, 60% of practicing physicians are women, and like all working women in the United States, many of us currently have or have had primary responsibility for parenting.

With COVID-19 raging, anxiety from balancing the needs of our families and those of our patients can be stifling. I have been heartened by the outpouring of amazing assistance offered by physicians in training.

In Kansas City, resident physicians are volunteering to work extra shifts and take extra calls. Medical students whose in-person education has been paused are reaching out to practicing physicians and other medical professionals with offers to assist with grocery shopping, child and pet care and even homeschooling duties.

These amazing offers of help from our upcoming workforce humble me. I have never been prouder to be a part of this competent and courageous profession. The public in the Kansas City region should be reassured that compassionate, dedicated future physicians are in training and will soon be ready to serve them well during the rest of this epidemic and when future medical challenges arrive.

- Elizabeth Simpson, President, Missouri Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics, Lee’s Summit

This story was originally published March 21, 2020 at 5:00 AM.