Fellowship year is always memorable. This year has been even more memorable for all of us at Long Beach Memorial Sports Medicine. We have been on the front lines of a global pandemic and had to adjust our fellows educational experience around a dynamic environment. The COVID19 outbreak has created the need for rapidly expanding adoption of “virtual visits” including telephone and video visits. Luckily, our hospital network was ready for the challenge.
As the NCAA began closing down our Big West tournaments, event coverage began to suffer. We acted in the best interest of our student athletes, fellows, and public health to create opportunity for virtual visits in the training rooms. COVID19 has produced a sense of community as the residents of Long Beach begin to band together to overcome the health crisis.
Our educational program has always prided itself on its dynamic nature and the ability to change on the fly. We receive daily updates from the hospital administration and modify our weekly routine according to the latest info. Fortunately, this concept of rapid incorporation of new protocols is not any different than how we approach our general education. We are always looking for ways to improve patient care, increase efficiency, or expand educational opportunities. It is unfortunate that world events have created so many unknowns but like Emerson once wrote –
“Napoleon said of Massena, that he was not himself until the battle began to go against him; then, when the dead began to fall in ranks around him, awoke his powers of combination, and he put on terror and victory as a robe. So it is in rugged crises, in unweariable endurance, and in aims which put sympathy out of question, that the angel is shown.”