Healthcare providers across the country are being redeployed and rewriting their job descriptions to address the COVID-19 pandemic, which has risen to 869,006 confirmed cases and 49,958 deaths in the U.S. as of 7:25 a.m. CDT April 24.
Here are five orthopedic surgeons taking leading roles in the fight against COVID-19:
1. Richard Scott, MD, former CMO of Hackensack (N.J.) Meridian Health, canceled his retirement to oversee operations at the Atlantic City (N.J.) Convention Center, which was turned into a field hospital for non-coronavirus patients.
2. Aenor Sawyer, MD, is serving as medical director for a University of California San Francisco project that will test the entire town of Bolinas, Calif., for COVID-19. Bolinas' nearly 2,000 residents will be tested over a four-day period for COVID-19 and for the presence of antibodies, which reveals if a person has already been exposed to the virus.
3. St. Louis-based orthopedic surgeon Bill Schroer, MD, is using his distillery to make hand sanitizer, which is in high demand due to the pandemic. The distillery, which typically produces vodka and rye whiskey, has produced more than 600 gallons of hand sanitizer for first responders and nursing facilities.
4. Steve Madey, MD, is working with helmet manufacturer WaveCel to develop face shields for healthcare workers at Portland, Ore.-based Legacy Health. WaveCel transitioned from producing bicycle helmets to face shields and has the capacity to accelerate production to between 30,000 and 50,000 face shields per week.
5. David Bruce, MD, teamed with a local manufacturing firm to produce medical gowns for Erlanger Hospital and Parkridge Medical Center, both based in Chattanooga, Tenn. The company will manufacture 3,000 gowns per day, with Erlanger planning to order 60,000.