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| Not often do three Washington and Lee alumni have the opportunity to work at the same office together. Dr. Karen Blackburn '06, Alyssa Bower '19, and Clara McCollam '19 have all worked at Bloom OB/GYN, located in Friendship Heights, for the past year. Blackburn, a physician at the practice, deeply enjoys the opportunity to work with recent graduates and students. |
| "I love having people from W&L work with me. Every year, I probably get one or two emails from people either wanting to shadow or looking for a position," Blackburn explained. "It's really nice to just get random emails from people that are really, really well qualified. Working as a medical assistant allows them to dive a little bit deeper into medicine and take a look at what day-to-day life is really like." |
| Bower and McCollam were both excited about the opportunity to work as medical assistants prior to pursuing physician assistant and nurse practitioner programs, respectively. |
| "It's a very hands-on job where you get to draw people's blood, give shots, take vitals, and work one-on-one with patients," McCollam said. "I'm just starting my nurse practitioners' program now and, while I'm planning on pursuing family health, I might go into women's health after this experience. It has just been very positive, and I found my passion working at Bloom." |
| As a surge of COVID-19 cases hit the Washington, D.C. metro area in early March, Bloom OB/GYN began making procedural changes in order to protect the health of the staff and patients. For labor and delivery at Sibley Memorial Hospital, doctors are wearing protective eyewear along with masks. Pregnant and surgical patients must also be tested for COVID-19 due the high risk of infection exposure. The Bloom office also undertook several changes. |
| "We are spreading out appointments more to reduce exposures in the waiting room, so people are not congregating there and exposing themselves to other people," Bower noted. "Our daily schedule used to be structured with patients back-to-back. We'd flip rooms pretty fast and always take somebody back. But now, there's more flexibility in the day and more time. It's less of a fast pace than we're used to but we're also taking extra time to wipe down and clean the rooms a lot more." |
| Providing essential medical care during a pandemic remains a daunting task, and members of the office find support through their coworkers and friends as they navigate this uncertainty. |
| "My inspiration depends on the day, to be quite honest, because at different times in your life you need to reach and get inspiration from different people," Blackburn said. "I have a friend in New York who is treating COVID patients directly, and talking to her about how she's handling it has been really inspirational and helpful to get new ideas to incorporate into our practice. It's wonderful just being able to work with people that can bring that really, really great work ethic and positive energy. That keeps you going from day to day when you're working like crazy. If you have a really tough week on call, those are the people who keep you going." |
| Editor's Note: For those who wish to assist Bloom OB/GYN, donations of face masks or lunches to the staff are greatly appreciated. |
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