A 13 year old boy asked me on Friday, ‘Dr. MacKoul, why do we have to wear masks?’
I answered him very honestly. ‘We all have to wear masks for many reasons. First, we are entering what is predicted to be the worst respiratory season for children in the recent past. We are already seeing record hospitalization rates for respiratory disease in children in the majority of states in the United States. We are protecting the babies who are too young to get vaccines. We are protecting my patients and parents with compromised immune systems so that they don’t catch any illness while being in the office. We are protecting each other so that I don’t catch your germs and you don’t catch mine! We are wearing masks because we care about other people. I make my staff go one step further and wear masks and shields so that we have another barrier to spreading illness.’
We want you to bring your masks and wear them at the office. I charge a fee of a dollar donation for a mask. That money is donated to charity. I am not trying to get money from our patients and families. I am trying to get you to bring and wear your own mask. I am using the parenting technique of negative reinforcement to get you to bring your own mask. We were able to donate over $375 to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Center last month. Kaitlin in the front office is on their Board of Directors.
We have also had an issue with parents not being honest with us and coming into the office and exposing our staff and patients to diseases that should have been disclosed on our telephone prescreening call prior to coming into the office.
Masks help to keep all of us safe!