EHS Secretary General, Professor Eleftherios Tsiridis

We hope summer will eliminate the virus to a certain extent and the recurrence will never happen again. Nevertheless our health authorities are preparing for a potential second wave in the Autumn. Lockdown is not expected, as it has significant influence on the economy and the societal function. Limited lockdowns however are expected based on epidemiological data.

On the vaccination front, it appears that Oxford has reached the Level 3 testing studies for a new vaccine, with a hope of having a vaccination early next year.

There is no doubt that all the educational functions will be postponed this coming winter and will give us time to reflect on the reorganisation in the future both in terms of employing new technologies, as well as controlling their finances. The EHS remains always in the forefront of all relative or general medical developments and it is our promise that we will keep you updated on a monthly basis on all fronts.

Below is an excellent report from our active member in New York, Assoc Prof Ran Schwarzkopf, who we welcome as our international Ambassador of the Month. Thank you to him.

Please do not hesitate to contact the EHS Secretarial Office (samstokesehs@gmail.com) with any report on the Covid-19 developments in your countries or your health care systems. The collection of information is always very helpful and it reflects our comradeship against the common “enemy”.

EHS member in USA, Assoc Prof Ran Schwarzkopf

New York August 2020

Dear colleagues,

It is a great honor to serve as the monthly Ambassador for the European Hip Society. In these “interesting” times, I want to share some personal experiences and feelings about my professional and personal life as a hip surgeon at NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital in New York City.

New York City was the center of the first large COVID-19 outbreak in the United-States. The First confirmed case of COVID-19 was on March 1st, and the city went into a shut down on March 15th. All elective surgery was paused on March 9th already and the Orthopedic department shifted its focus and joined the medical center’s effort to fight the pandemic. Our orthopedic department, includes 187 consultants, 72 residents and 21 fellows covering 6 hospital sites with over 3,000 inpatient beds. NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital is a large academic specialty hospital and is the center of our department.

While elective surgery was paused urgent surgical cases continued throughout the period. Surgical criteria were established and maintained until elective surgery was reinstated on June 8th. During the pause period there were concerns regarding performing surgery due to the consumption of PPE, the risk of asymptomatic COVID transmission to patients and staff, inpatient bed and staff availability and whether our operating rooms and anesthesia staff would be available or instead repurposed for the care of COVID patients. During the pause period we were able to perform all required urgent and emergent surgeries without any substantial delays.

Our orthopedic department has mandated that all members of the faculty and trainees to contribute to the institutional efforts to address the COVID pandemic. Although accommodations were made for factors related to age, underlying medical conditions and personal family issues, all faculty had to be engaged in one component of the institutional response. The faculty participated in the following areas:

Coverage of the orthopedic urgent care center at the orthopedic hospital allowing emergency room physicians to serve at the main campus
Assisting with inpatient COVID care as a member of the medical team working under the guidance of a hospitalist
Participating in the Family Connect program to provide frequent updates to families (an essential need because of a no visitor policy that had been instituted)
Answering COVID phone lines at NYU’s employee health service
Staffing virtual orthopedic and general urgent care
Helping to staff emergency room triage teams

New York City and New York state were the epicenter of the US outbreak for the first few months, on May 15th with the decreasing infection rates the state Governor started reopening the state and NY entered the first phase of its reopening. By June 8th New York City was allowed to restart full elective surgery service (NYC was the last region in the state to enter this phase).

During the surgical pause we maintained our weekly scheduled conferences by converting them all to online formats, as well as taking advantage of a number of unique educational opportunities during this time period, including joining conferences with local programs, the exceptional AAHKS FOCAL curriculum and multiple webinars sponsored by other orthopedic organizations and industry. Some subspecialty divisions in our department arranged for speakers from around the country to provide lectures to our residents and fellows
Starting in mid-May when the burden on the medical center decreased, the orthopedic department started to bring back its faculty and trainees from the COVID “army” back to the orthopedic service. During May and June, we started to gradually increase our in-person treatment of our patients in our offices and clinics, all the while keeping proper social distancing and personal protective protocols. As of today, July 26th, our department has returned to its normal operating schedule, with the new normal COVID protocols, but as the country and our patients are still recovering and fighting the ongoing pandemic we are cautious and prepared if we are called back to help our colleagues and pause again our elective work.

I look forward to when we will be able to travel freely again and meet and share our clinical and scientific knowledge with our colleagues around the world. I especially look forward in anticipation to the next EHS meeting in Lille 2021 and I am sure it will be a tremendous meeting.

I wish all my colleagues around the world health and safety,

Sincerely,

Ran Schwarzkopf MD MSc
Associate Professor
Director of Adult Reconstruction Research Center
Associate Chief Division of Adult Reconstruction
Associate Director Orthopedic Residency Program
Department of Orthopedic Surgery