Brian Gantwerker, MD, president of the Craniospinal Center of Los Angeles, has experienced wildfire evacuations in the past, but wildfires that began Jan. 7 across Los Angeles County have posed new concerns.
New worries arise from the Palisades fire spreading in the Los Angeles area less than three miles from his practice in Santa Monica, along with concerns that wildfire seasons are lasting longer than in the past.
As of Jan. 9 at least five people have died amid the active wildfires, and more than 2,000 buildings have been destroyed. Hospitals in Los Angeles County are operational but some health systems closed clinical locations and physician offices.
Dr. Gantwerker's strategy to keep up with patient care amid wildfire evacuations comes down to two words — be flexible.
"If anything COVID-19 has taught us, it's how to access care digitally," he said. "While it's not as good as an in-person visit, it's better than no visit. We've had a couple patients obviously cancel, but we're certainly allowing people to see me virtually, whatever works for them … I would advise other physicians and surgeons to be flexible and put yourself in their shoes."
And just as important as being flexible is taking care of yourself as a physician, he said.
"Make sure your families and your loved ones are OK," Dr. Gantwerker said. "I have colleagues and friends who are close to losing or have lost homes, so please take care of yourselves and your family."
The scale and intensity of natural disasters have increased in recent years, leaving surgeons and practices to think ahead to protect themselves and patients. Dr. Gantwerker said now it's more important than ever for communities to recognize the problem and seek action.
"It's sort of an unprecedented time with regards to the external pressures being put on practices [from natural disasters]," he said. "Particularly in Southern California, the wildfire season used to be about three months. Now it's pretty much all year round. The first thing is to acknowledge that climate change is real and is happening, and however you attribute it to, it's something we all have to deal with … What we have to do is pull together our leaders and come up with programs that can legitimately help people in the community, both at-risk people and people who may not be at risk right now."