A message from Dr. John Carey, SOFT Medical Advisor

Greetings to Families and Friends of SOFT,

At this unreal time, let me say first that I share with all the intense and widespread concerns and anxiety engendered by COVID-19. Despite working every day at home now, and on occasion at the hospital, the implications of this unprecedented pandemic are never out of my mind and thoughts.

In regards to the guidelines from Utah Health in 2010 that are posted on the Texas website, I can tell you for certain that they are no longer in effect here. I communicated with my Pediatric Department chair and with two emergency room (ER) doctors at Utah’s Primary Children’s Hospital (whom I trust). They were able to verify this. In addition, one of the ER doctors mentioned that there was no national directive for pediatric centers and children’s hospitals to triage admissions related to the coronavirus. The other doctor indicated that there’s been “very low pediatric hospitalization rates around COVID-19 thus far”, and added that he thought that the “very, very difficult decisions around rationing would likely be an adult issue”. This is reassuring for the care of children but leads to uncertainty for adults.

My message here simply addresses the widespread concern that many of you experienced from those out of date triage in crisis guidelines from 2010. It falls short in being able to remove the underlying stress that I can only imagine you feel as parents and friends of persons with a rare trisomy condition.

In this light, the SOFT Medical and Scientific Advisory Board will be working on providing input to medical boards and health departments that establish guidelines for triage in times of crisis like this. I have learned in researching this topic how complicated the issue of triage in crisis situations really is. Pray that no one will have to be in such a dire situation.

Warm regards and Keep Well,

John C Carey, MD
Chair of the Medical & Scientific Advisory Board SOFT