Letter to the Editor – Piedmont Macon

Dear Editor,

As Middle Georgia doctors, we need to be honest with you. 

Most of the patients we’ve seen for the past few months — most of the hospitalizations, most of the deaths — stem from COVID-19. And, of those who check in with COVID-19, an overwhelming majority are unvaccinated. 

Piedmont Macon and Piedmont Macon North have been at capacity. This is also true for hospitals across the region and the nation. 

All of this is preventable, and all of this is because of COVID-19. 

The reality is, the latest COVID-19 surge, driven by the highly infectious delta variant, outpaced the previous highest peak in COVID-19 infections. 

Here in Macon, we have already seen a higher number of patients than we did in even the largest past surge in January. The truth is that even though we’re all tired of changing our lives to manage COVID-19, we’re simply not out of the woods yet. 

And the consequences are dire. Increasingly, we are now seeing younger patients than ever before. We are seeing these patients get sicker, and sooner, than in previous waves. 

The need for ventilators is happening much more quickly and in greater numbers than in past surges.The massive influx of COVID-19 patients is straining Georgia’s health resources, including nurses and equipment like ventilators. 

This isn’t just a nightmare playing out on the national news or in some other far-away community. This is the reality right here in Middle Georgia. 

We may be on the downside of the slope but it will be a long, grueling way down. Sadly, many patients will continue to die. 

Please know that it doesn’t have to be this way. This suffering is preventable. Of the patients in our health system, approximately 95 percent of them are not vaccinated, and nearly all of those who pass away are also unvaccinated. No matter how hard we fight to save each patient who needs our care, regardless of vaccination status, what’s clear is that those who are vaccinated respond better to the treatments we have available. And most who are vaccinated and have a breakthrough case, in fact, don’t need our care at all because they simply don’t experience severe illness — a testament to the effectiveness of vaccines. 

Protect yourself and your family today with a vaccine. If you already have, we thank you. If you have worried about whether the vaccine is safe, we are here to assure you it is. Every single doctor signing this letter has read the safety data, and then chose to receive the vaccine ourselves. So have our families and loved ones. So have our children and our parents. 

Choose the safest option of being vaccinated. 

We don’t want to see you in our hospital with COVID-19 because severe illness from COVID-19 is almost always preventable. 

But we do want to see you. We want to see you healthy at the grocery store, at church and at the local ball fields. 

Get vaccinated. Stay out of the hospital with COVID. Stand with others in helping us move forward – and let’s make sure we never have another COVID surge like this one. 

Sincerely,

Sudhir Athni, MD, Neurology

Muhammad Awais, MD, FACP, Internal Medicine

Fayyaz Barodawala, MD, Interventional Radiology/Diagnostic Radiology

Rebecca Bass, MD, FCCP, Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine

Ericha Benshoff, MD, Radiology

Gary Bernstein, MD, FACS, MBA, Chief Medical Officer, General Surgery

Robert Blackwell, MD, Hand Surgery

Brian Bortnick, MD, Psychiatry 

Hubert Buxton, MD, Anesthesiology 

Rossana Carter, MD, Internal Medicine 

Kala Cunard, MD, Internal Medicine

Lewis Cunningham, DO, FACOS, Urology

R. Jonathan Dean, MD, Pulmonary Medicine 

Stephen M. Durkee, MD, OBGYN

Janine Ellis, MD, Internal Medicine 

Lisa Farmer, MD, General Surgery

Cesar Figueroa, MD, Psychiatry

Michael Fuller, MD, Anesthesiology

Yomi Gammada, MD, Internal Medicine

Sandra Gregory, MD, Radiation Oncology

Ralph Griffin, MD, FACEP, Emergency Medicine 

Raj Gupta, MD, Hematology/Oncology 

Craig Hall, MD, OBGYN

Mark Hendricks, MD, Pulmonary Medicine

Jennifer Hoffman, MD, Infectious Disease  

Jared Hudspeth, MD, Orthopaedics  

Matthew Jerles, MD, Otolaryngology

Barry Johns, MD, FACE, Endocrinology

Deepak Kadiyala, MD, MRCP (UK), Nephrology/Critical care

Harold Katner, MD, Infectious Disease

Gregory Lee, MD, Orthopedic Surgery

James Lennon, DO, Oncology

Marvin Lopez-Medal, MD, Internal Medicine 

Teresa Luhrs, MD, OBGYN

Arthur McCain, MD, Interventional Radiology

Ma.Lourdes Mina, MD OBGYN, FACOG, OBGYN

Kathleen Mont-Louis, MD, OBGYN

Paul Mossman, MD, Family Medicine 

Buthena Nagi, MD, MBCHB, Internal Medicine

Onajefe Nelson-Twakor, MD, Cardiology

Russell O’Neal, MD, Internal Medicine

Mufid Othman, MD, Internal Medicine & Nephrology

Sumit Patel, MD, Emergency Medicine

Nicholas Pietrzak, MD, Family Medicine

Muhammad Rehan, MD, FACP, Internal Medicine

William Roche IV, MD, Neurology

R. Paul Roddenberry, MD, OBGYN

Eric Roddenberry, MD, OBGYN 

John Rogers, MD, FACS, FACEP, Emergency Medicine

Layth Saymeh, MD, Gastroenterology

Erik Schneibel, MD, Interventional Cardiology 

Shahriar Sedghi, MD AGAF, Gastroenterolgy

Garry Simons III, MD, Diagnostic Radiology

Tatyana Sklyarevskaya, MD, Radiology 

Jonathan Smith, MD, Internal Medicine

Thomas Terry, MD, Cardiology

Kavitha Vemuri, MD, Internal Medicine

Franc Wallace, MD, Medical Oncology 

Thomas Woodyard, MD, General Surgery 

Arshad Yousuf, MD, FACS, Cardiothoracic Surgery

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