Making us proud!!

Meet residents Marwa and Mariam Ayyash. Both currently working in Labor and Delivery, the sisters were born and raised in Lebanon and moved to the US in 2009 and are the first in their family to become doctors. Never far apart, the dynamic duo has chosen similar educational and training paths - including attending the same undergrad, medical school and now training institution. They have faced much adversity, including the loss of their brother last year, and are each other’s biggest cheerleaders. To cheer them on, leave a comment! #WomenInMedicine

https://www.facebook.com/186221524757914/posts/3630438907002808/

Guidelines to stay safe during the Thanksgiving holidays.

Guidelines to stay safe during the Thanksgiving holidays.

How are you going to spend your Thanksgiving holidays? Do you have a college student coming from out of town? Or an elderly relative you would love to see? Listen to our expert, Dr. Bishr Al-Ujayli, talk about how to stay safe and to keep others safe during the holidays.

see more at https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=196472812044521

Podcast about Coronavirus

Everyone is talking about the coronavirus vaccines, and people have so many questions. Is it safe? When will it be given? And to who?

Listen to this 2 part podcast created by NAAMA doctors, Hassan and Mouhanad, as they discuss the coronavirus vaccine. The name of the podcast Arab American Café. It is available on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

If this podcast was of value to you, please let us know by leaving a like or a comment.

https://www.facebook.com/186221524757914/posts/3674307992615899/

NAAMA BEIRUT EMERGENCY APPEAL

Today we were shocked to learn of the huge explosion in Beirut, killing dozens and injuring thousands of people. Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this explosion, the missing, the injured, the dead, their families in Lebanon and abroad. 

It is especially heartbreaking given the precarious political and economic situation in Lebanon.  

We will be organizing a fund raising drive to help, please donate if you can. More details to follow soon.

#TheBeirutExplosion #Beirut #Explosion #SupportBeirut

Dr. Ghassan Saed Explains How Chloroquine Works at Cellular Level

Dr. Ghassan Saed, an Associate Professor of Gyn Oncology, Director of Ovarian Cancer Research, and a Member of Molecular Therapy Program at the Departments of Ob/GYN and Oncology at Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine explains how chloroquine, a weak base, works at the cellular level: 

“An acidic environment is favorable for the virus to replicate. Raising the pH will inhibit the transcription of the RNA. Another mechanism by which chloroquine works is by enhancing the entry of zinc into the cell. Zinc is a well-known inhibitor for RNA polymerase”.

Henry Ford Health System Leads U.S. First Large-Scale Study of Hydroxychloroquine

From Henry Ford Health System:

“Henry Ford Health System will lead the first large-scale study in the United States of the effectiveness of using hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, to prevent COVID-19. 

The study, first of its kind in the nation, will be voluntary for 3,000 healthcare workers and first nullresponders. It is being organized and led by Dr. William O’Neill and Dr. Marcus Zervos. 

The study, titled WHIP COVID-19 Study, will look at whether the drug prevents front-line workers from contracting the virus. Once they provide a blood sample, the study subjects will receive vials with unidentified, specific pills to take over the next eight weeks: a once-a-week dose of hydroxychloroquine, a once-a-day dose, or a placebo (a pill that looks like the medication, but does not contain any medication or other active ingredients). The study medication was specially procured for this study and will not impact the supply of medication for people who already take the medication for other conditions. 

Participants will not know what group they are in. They will then be contacted weekly and in person at week 4 and week 8 of the study to see if they are exhibiting any symptoms of COVID-19, including dry cough, fever or breathing issues, as well as any medication side effects. At eight weeks, they will be checked again for symptoms, medication side effects, and have blood drawn. Results will be compared among the three groups to see if the medication had any effect”.

Urgent: Detroit Health Department Seeks Providers for Coronavirus Community Care Network

NAAMA MI is calling on all providers able and willing to help in the fight against covid19. Currently, prescriptions are required by a health care provider to obtain testing, a process that may be difficult especially in the underprivileged and vulnerable populations. The Detroit Health Department is conducting the tests and is reaching out to providers to screen and provide testing prescriptions to the patients meeting criteria. 

For instructions, please see below. 
Thank you. 

The letter below from the Detroit Health Department is for providers who are willing to join the Coronavirus Community Care Network to accept new patients and provide anyone eligible with a COVID-19-related health care evaluation and testing prescription.  

March 31, 2020

Dear Detroit Partner in Care:

The Detroit Health Department has been working in collaboration with a variety of partners to develop, coordinate, and implement a robust COVID-19 response plan that includes provisions for all City of Detroit residents, including our most vulnerable. Several hospital systems teamed up with local health departments led by the City of Detroit to launch the Coronavirus Community Care Network (CCCN) to rapidly expand options for COVID-19 testing at the State Fair Grounds located off Woodward and 8 Mile. As our department continues its response efforts, we are reaching out to Detroit health care providers to assist us in our effort to ensure all residents, regardless of income, insurance, or healthcare status have access to COVID-19 testing.

Currently, the CCCN Drive-Up Testing Site requires that patients receive a prescription for testing after an evaluation by their healthcare provider. COVID-19 testing criteria has been established by MDHHS/CDC and prioritizes high-risk groups, such as older adults, health care providers, and first responders. After a prescription has been issued, providers may either call the prescription into the CCCN Call Center (313-230-0505) and book an appointment for the patient, or provide a paper or electronic (text/email) prescription to the patient so that they may schedule their own appointment. A prescription must be shown by the patient at the site in order to receive their test. Transportation to COVID-19-related medical appointments and the MI State Fair is being provided to Detroit residents for free by calling 313-208-7364.

To-date, there have been 1804 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 50 associated deaths in Detroit. We cannot take this lightly in our community. As the number of cases continue to increase in Michigan and outside our region, we need your help to increase access to testing, which will support epidemiological investigations to inform our on-going response efforts for targeted interventions. If your office is willing to provide COVID-19 testing prescriptions for the CCCN Drive-Thru Testing Site, please:

  • Sign up by calling 313-361-0093, or visiting www.detroitmi.gov/coronavirus and clicking “Drive Thru Testing” to fill out the CCCN Provider Network.

  • Email dhdoutbreak@detroitmi.gov with any questions/concerns regarding the CCCN testing initiative.

  • Share the following guidance with your clinical staff to evaluate whether a patient meets eligibility for a prescription: 

    • Presents with symptoms such as fever and lower respiratory symptoms, such as cough or shortness of breath.

    • Meets MDHHS COVID-19 Priority Testing Levels: 

      • Priority 1: Hospitalized patients and symptomatic healthcare workers.

      • Priority 2: Patients in long-term care facilities with symptoms, patients 65 years of age and older with symptoms, patients with underlying conditions with symptoms, and first responders with symptoms.

  • Continue to support hand and respiratory hygiene by staff and patients, perform routine environmental cleaning, and provide access to the appropriate PPE during each appointment.

  • Provide suspected COVID-19 patients and their loved ones with a copy of the attached Self-Monitor and Home Isolation guidance, and encourage them to call the Detroit Health Department 24/7 COVID-19 Resource Line at 313-876-4000 x1 if they have additional questions.

We appreciate your continued partnership. If you have questions about COVID-19 or this testing

initiative, please contact us. Thank you for ensuring the safety of our communities. We are grateful for your work and dedication at the front lines.

Sincerely,

Denise Fair, MPH, FACHE 
Chief Public Health Officer, Detroit Health Department 

Najibah K. Rehman, MD, MPH
Medical Director, Detroit Health Department

One Million Pulse-Oximeter Challenge

Dear Colleagues and Friends of NAAMA,

First and foremost, I would like to thank each and everyone of you who is contributing in anyway to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, whether it is direct patient care, virtual care, support of community events, or other ways. It has been so uplifting to see how our community has come together to help those in need.

We are partnering with our colleague, Dr. Abdelkader Hawasli, to promote virtual care and home self monitoring. Please read his letter below, we appreciate any help you can provide. Let us rise up the the challenge! 


Best,
Leila Hajjar, MD, MHSA, FACOG
President, NAAMA MI

Dear Colleagues:

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I am reaching out for your help as potential volunteers in providing medical advice and distributing pulse-oximeters to suspected COVID-19 patients. The idea is to limit ER visits to only those patients whom are on the verge of developing pulmonary complications that can be identified by the drop in their oxygen saturation using the pulse-oximeter.

This will be done by either mailing or hand delivering, based on patient's geographic location, one million pulse-oximeters to suspected patients based on their evaluation by a physician via a video consultation using the secure HIPPA compliant telemedicine app for DrOnline. I have donated 1000 pulse-oximeters for this task and hope to expand it to one million or more.

DrOnline is a new open platform telemedicine company utilizing video chat. It has been in the development phase for overseas/global use for the last two years. The planned launch date is January 2021. However, amid this crisis, an emergency version will be released dedicated to serving suspected COVID-19 patients. The patient’s and doctor’s Apps will be available, free of charge, for both IOS and Android systems within the next 2-3 weeks. 

To those who are interested, please sign up as volunteers on the currently available desk top version or you can donate to the “One Million Pulse-Oximeter Challenge”. We need to create a large team of volunteers, in Michigan and hopefully in other States, from internists, family medicine, emergency medicine, pulmonologists, infectious disease and others who feel qualified and want to help. We need funds to cover the cost of the pulse-oximeters, mailing and hand delivering them. 

Together we can do this project and make a difference. 

Please sign up on the desktop version of DrOnline until the doctor’s app is released by following these steps:

  1. Go to “DrOnline.me” using Google Chrome

  2. Click on “I’m a Specialist” at the top left

  3. Click on “Sign Up”

  4. Create an account

  5. Go to your email for a message for verification

  6. Close DrOnline.me site and reopen it again

  7. Go to “Log In” and log in to your account

  8. Click “Sign in” and complete putting in your information

  9. Choose your specialty category

  10. Choose a second category “Coronavirus Consultation”

  11. You will receive an email that your sign up is complete

  12. Go to “My Calendar” and put in your availability

Please email me back once you complete your sign up to send you how to navigate through the app or if you have any questions about donation at drhawasli@dronline.me.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Abdelkader Hawasli, MD,FACS, FICS, FASMBS
Vice Chair Department of Surgery
Director, Minimally Invasive Fellowship & Robotic Surgery
Director, Bariatric Surgery
Past President of Staff, St. John Hospital Medical Center 
Associate Clinical Professor , Wayne State University