Our frontline worker of the week is… Dr. Stamon Carr

Aug 02, 2020 News

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By Malisa Playter-Harry

Often when we visit the public or private hospitals, our main concern is getting treated for whatever ailment that is affecting us at that time. When we leave, it is very rare that we remember or are grateful for the effort of the health professionals who took care of us. These health professionals venture to work daily, many times sacrificing a lot of time away from loved ones just so that they can assist in making someone feel better or save a life.

Their selfless contributions to the medical field can never be ignored. Sometimes a simple “thank you” or “I appreciate you” is all they need to be motivated to carry on and do the miraculous work of impacting our lives.
As we continue to shed light on the medical professionals and their work during the Coronavirus pandemic, today we recognise Dr. Stamon Fitzherbert Orlando Carr for his stellar contribution to the field of medicine over the past seven years.
With his welcoming personality and sharp appearance, our Frontline Worker this week currently holds the position of second in charge of the Region Six COVID-19 taskforce. His responsibilities during this difficult time cannot go unnoticed. The doctor who resides at Cumberland Village, East Canje, Berbice is 32 years old.
Five years of his seven-year general practice have been dedicated to Internal Medicine.
His studies were in Cuba from 2006-2013. He returned to Guyana and spent a few months at the Port Mourant Hospital before being moved to the New Amsterdam Hospital where he currently works.
The last of six siblings, the doctor was raised at St. Ann’s Street, New Amsterdam and had attended the Berbice High School from 2000-2005 before heading off to medical school the following year. Becoming a medical doctor was always a path he wanted to take and, according to him, “I couldn’t think of doing anything else”. He described it as a “lifelong desire to work in the medical field and help people” and that desire was realised after many years of dedication and hard work.
But long before the thought of what he wanted to pursue in his life, Dr. Carr lost his dear mother. He was just four years old at the time. While there were some challenges throughout his upbringing, he had the care and support of many mother figures. “Apart from that, my father, siblings, other family members and friends have always been supportive,” he said.
Fast-forward to present day, he is a successful doctor attached to the New Amsterdam Hospital and one who was chosen to assist in the fight against the deadly Coronavirus disease.
ROLES/RESPONSIBILITIES
The medical doctor is tasked with conducting surveillance of possible cases within Berbice. Outlining the process, Dr. Carr stated that persons would usually call the hotline and after engaging with the individual, “myself and nurses on the team would go to the location and investigate these cases. If it is a suspected case, then we would need to bring the patient into quarantine.” With concerns of persons entering the region and the country via illegal ports, Dr. Carr and his team also have the responsibility of investigating those. Just recently, several persons were tested and quarantined after entering from Springlands. The doctor and his team dealt with those as well.
“We would receive the call and once the persons are detained, we would go and collect them and put them into quarantine. We would see those persons on a daily basis and since I am also in charge of having the PCR tests done on them, from there, once they are cleared, we would let them know they are free of COVID,” he related.
TIME CONSUMING BUT EXCITING
Whether working at the local hospitals or at the clinics, the challenges and rewards of being in the profession are plentiful, health professionals have shared. From chaotic schedules to mustering patience during the challenging encounters, medical practitioners like Dr. Carr, for their dedication, are to be hailed. He considers his role in the task force as a bit time consuming but at the same time, exciting. Exciting in a sense “that the rush of having to go after just receiving a call and sometimes we have to search for persons. We have been receiving a lot of calls from neighbours who suspect there may be cases and often times we show up there, but the suspected cases are either not around or in hiding. We would tend to need to go and do a further search sometimes with a police officer with us. It can be very exciting and time consuming at the same time,” he added. He showered praise on his team of nurses and other doctors who, he said, work especially hard.
DEALING WITH THE FEAR FACTOR
One would imagine that the idea of visiting the home or dwelling place of someone who is suspected to have contracted the virus would be nerve racking, and indeed, the doctor admitted it is. But as time elapsed that fear factor has greatly subsided.
“I was very fearful, but as the months went by, you would have gotten more practice. You always have that fear that you will have a positive case,” he said. In fact, the doctor was the one who tended to the first and only COVID case in Berbice. That patient has since died after she developed respiratory complications. Sharing his experience when he and his team had to deal with that case, he revealed that a call was received a few days after the patient had returned from the United States and based on the symptoms she was experiencing and her travel history at that time, it was highly suspected that she had contracted the virus.
“So, we organized a team and went over to the house and from the moment I saw her, my mind immediately went to that. As I started to question her and examine her using my medical expertise, I had a very strong belief that this was our first case. I subsequently got on to our Medical Superintendent at that time and explained to her my suspicions,” Dr. Carr shared.
The patient was subsequently placed into quarantine and tested. When the test results returned, it confirmed what Dr. Carr had suspected – she was a positive case. The patient was then moved to the Georgetown Public Hospital after she began experiencing respiratory difficulties. Unfortunately, she died a few days later. However, despite not having any other positive cases since then, Dr. Carr is concerned that there may be a lot of asymptomatic cases existing in the Region and now that the curfew has been lifted in Regions Five and Six, he is even more fearful that a few cases might start manifesting symptoms.
Explaining the criteria for a suspected case, Dr. Carr said, “What happens, when someone calls the hotline, we have a checklist of symptoms that we run through with them on the phone, so depending how many common symptoms of COVID they present, we may go out to check them or suggest remaining indoors and have their temperature checked daily.”
He, however added, “It’s not to say if someone calls and has a fever alone they may not have COVID; that is the tricky part and we still do not have the capacity to do mass testing which for me should be something we should be looking into because the suspicion is that we have a lot of asymptomatic patients.”
Dr. Carr is currently not in agreement with the curfew being lifted just yet given the fact that there has been an increase cases in the country. But at the same time, he does understand that “we are trying to return to some amount of normalcy.” Nevertheless, from a medical perspective, “I believe it is prudent, especially considering how porous our border on the Corentyne is, I am not in agreement with it,” he said. Against this background, Dr. Carr is appealing to the public to act responsibly.
CHALLENGES IN THE FIELD
If you are finding it difficult to be at home right now or even making a simple trip to the supermarket or farmer’s market because of the fear of contracting the virus, then imagine how it would feel to walk in the shoes of a doctor or a nurse. Health care workers are not afforded the luxury of holing up in their homes as a shield from the virus. Moreover, exposing themselves to the risk is simply not a choice but rather a mandate. Dr. Carr disclosed that when they receive calls and eventually must go into the field to visit the homes of persons who have suspected that they, a family member or neighbour may have the virus, it is not necessarily a walk in the park. Many times, when they show up to the locations, people are reluctant to exit their homes and engage with them or some may exhibit hostility, hence the need for a police officer to accompany the team. He said too that there is a lot of stigma attached to possible COVID patients and towards health care workers too. He believes that it has a lot to do with the lack of education.
He said that, “despite there is so much information out there about COVID, going through all that information and picking out what is prudent and what is false is sometimes a lot for some people. For me, it’s just about education. We try as much to educate the populace on our programme every Thursday, but I still think there is a lot more persons need to do for themselves apart from following the precautions.”
“There is also the stigma that if persons call and we show up, that we are going to put them in quarantine and then their neighbours and family will think they have COVID. Also, I have not felt stigma and discrimination, but I know some nurses would have felt stigmatized, some that are on the team. Some people believe that they may be carrying it because they are in contact with these patients; so, they say ‘we don’t want you around us’ and that is quite unfortunate,” Dr. Carr added.
He is therefore urging persons to be mindful and to stop the stigma and discrimination. “COVID-19 is a novel virus, it’s new, scientists are still learning day by day how the virus is behaving. Things change from time to time. What I would suggest to the general populace is to continue to follow the protocols, no mass gatherings, wearing your mask when leaving to go out, wash your hands frequently and avoid touching your face,” said Dr. Carr. Most importantly, he added, “Do not stigmatize anyone; we are all in this fight. The faster we can continue to learn to follow the protocols, the faster we will be able to bring the curve down, but it’s hard. It’s partly to do with culture and it’s partly to do with ignorance and we can only combat that with education.”
FINDING TIME DESPITE A BUSY SCHEDULE
If you ask health care workers when was the last time they had a vacation or the last time they had an extended period of relaxation with family and close friends, the answer might suggest they are on the verge of exhaustion. But Dr. Carr noted that when he began his career in medicine, he looked forward to his holidays and days off. As the years progressed, he simply looked forward to a day where he could just recharge for the following week.
“After a while, it just becomes a part of you. Sometimes, I can’t tell the weekends from the other days of the week. It’s like that, but I do manage to get some time for myself,” he said. He stated too that initially, early on in his career, it was difficult separating work and family time, but he has since garnered the skills to manage both “pretty well”.
PRESSING ON AMIDST DISAPPOINTMENTS
At some point in all our lives, we may feel as though we want to give up and, for Dr. Carr, he has felt that before while he was pursuing studies in medical school but he pressed on to complete his journey.
“I think the hardest part of being a doctor, well when you are in medical school, you have this false belief that once you do everything correctly then you should have a positive outcome (the patient survives). But practically, it doesn’t work like that and for me that would have been, and still is, the hardest aspect to get over. You know, you would have been with the patient sometimes days and weeks and the patient still dies; I think that is the hardest part of being a doctor,” he intimated. But Dr. Carr continues to dedicate his skills and time towards keeping the region and the nation at large safe and for that, the country is indebted to him.
He is encouraging persons to continue to follow established protocols even though the curfew in Regions Five and Six have been lifted, while noting that “it is not a signal that you can go out and congregate, we still need to take precautions.”

 

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