Hello

Hello Friends, 

First, let me say, that I hope everyone and your families are safe and healthy. I know everyone is feeling a lot of stress and angst at this time. Our world has turned upside down in a matter of weeks and very little of our day to day life looks like what it did a few weeks ago. 

I’ve taken some time before writing a post to everyone- time to gather my thoughts and adjust to the new normal. On March 1, I gave my  CAN-EAT© workshop in Brooklyn, NY. I flew home that night surprised to see many passengers at JFK airport wearing masks. They moved my flight to the international terminal and I thought that might be why. At that time, most of the cases of COVID-19 were still outside of the USA. Of course, in 3 weeks time, everything has changed dramatically. We are working from home, schools are closed, some are sheltering in place, workshops are being cancelled, and we as health care workers are finding ourselves on new ground. 

I thought I would share some of the ways that my professional life has changed. First, I am back in scrubs.

Many of you know, I work at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, NC. I’m really proud of UNC for being a leader with testing for the virus and all that we do for our state. 

I work on our out-patient interdisciplinary feeding team. We are typically very busy and see about 85 kids per week with 2 teams running in different locations. Like many hospitals, all of our of out-patient services have been drastically reduced and will soon be stopped altogether in an effort to

protect our patients from unnecessary exposure. We are being redeployed to help with acute care patients and are planning for the possibility of helping in any area of the hospital where we might be needed should there be staff shortages. Like many of you, we are also moving Feeding Team and therapy services into a  telehealth format. In fact, we did our first visit this week!

I also teach my CAN-EAT© workshop once per month. With mandates to limit gathering and use social distancing, many of us who give workshops are moving into virtual teaching. I have had requests for virtual teaching over the years and this was something I had resisted previously because I felt that my class was better in person. However, in an effort to continue to provide education and to honor the class I was supposed to give in NJ, I converted my workshop to a virtual format and taught online for the first time last weekend.

With the help of my host company, Motivations CEU, and the wonderful 35 therapists that agreed to try it and join us, it was a success! While I personally missed out on seeing everyone’s faces, there were a few really nice features of the online format.  I teach through lecture, written info on the slides and video case examples. Attendees were able to see the videos up close on their computers. We also had a running chat box where attendees could ask questions, ask me to play a video again, or even answer each others questions. We took stretching breaks throughout the day and so far the feedback has been very positive. I’ve even had a few therapists say they preferred the online format! I usually have demo patients in my classes and in an effort to offer the same type of class, I am open to a few attendees sending a short video clip of their own patients for group discussion during the workshop.  

I’m planning another virtual workshop for : 

CAN-EAT © Workshop: April 17-18, 2020 (8 am -5:30 pm), EST

https://www.motivationsceu.com/product-page/306-can-eat-approach-using-medical-motor-behavioral-strategies . (Instead of traveling to the beautiful state of New Hampshire).

Information can be found at the link above. I am asking motivations to continue to limit the number of attendees so that everyone can ask questions and have time to interact. 

As for this blog, I will continue to post here and on my facebook site. I will try to pull together a list of online learning opportunities for readers. I will also keep everyone posted on the telehealth piece and what we learn in the process of offering therapy in this format. 

Please take care of yourselves and your families. My department is having daily conversations with us about self care and connecting with each other and loved ones which is so important at a time like this when we have to use social distancing in an effort to slow the spread of this virus. 

Thank you for all that you do as health care workers and all you continue to do to care for these families and their children.

Thank  you for reading my blog!

Please reach out to me if I can help with information you need, Krisi