🦠170: Dr. MJC on What to Know and Do Next

Dr. Michael J. Conseulos and I are back in a “huddle” as we discuss what’s in the news now. And more importantly, we’re diving into practical tips and tools for as many aspects of this pandemic as we can, including: vaccines, what to do if you get sick, contact tracing, what he’s seeing and hearing from the medical community front lines, and his professional opinion on whether “the cure is worse than the cause.”

Make sure you’re subscribed to get part two of our conversation, on business scenario planning, business journaling, and “third door” solutions.

What’s on your mind? Submit follow-up questions for a future COVID-19 conversation at http://pivotmethod.com/ask

Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/170

Background on the Pivoting Around a Pandemic Podcast Series

Background from our kick-off to this Pivoting Around A Pandemic series, episode 159: With so much happening daily in the world and global economy around coronavirus, we’re all dealing with massive amounts of uncertainty, pivots at work, and for many—fear and anxiety that comes with not only the health concerns, but questions around how to maintain our livelihoods moving forward.

When Momentum member and pandemic expert Dr. Michael J. Consuelos reached out to offer himself as a resource to the JBE team and the MoMo community, I jumped at the chance to record a conversation for all of you as well, which has now turned into a full-blown series:

More about Dr. Michael J. Consuelos

Dr. Michael J. Consuelos is the Principal at MJC Solutions, a veteran-owned, small business that provides professional consulting and advisory services to organizations serving the healthcare sector. He has held several leadership roles in emergency preparedness and pandemic response since 1997.

His extensive experience includes leading a health system pandemic response to the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic. Dr. Consuelos’ coordination of the health system response with local, state, and federal authorities to maintain healthcare business continuity has been used as a model by other hospital systems.

Educating healthcare professionals and communicating to a varied audience has also been an important part of Dr. Consuelos’ professional career. He has been invited to speak to national audiences on regional healthcare response capabilities during nuclear incidents and maintaining business continuity during a pandemic.

Dr. Consuelos received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his pediatric training at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He received his Executive MBA from the Pennsylvania State University Smeal College of Business and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Topics Covered

  • Check-ins: how are we doing? Hope, anger, sadness, inspiration

  • What Michael is seeing/hearing from the medical response front lines

  • Dispelling the belief that the cure is worse than the cause

  • The science behind social distancing and shelter in place

  • R0, or R-naught: Each person can infect 2-3 people on average

  • Vaccine: what’s the word? 

  • Contact-tracing and surveillance capitalism concerns

  • Self-testing: should everyone do it? 

  • Concern about the virus mutating — the longer we aren’t able to flatten the curve

  • Contact-tracing: 200-year-old process

  • Endemic: natural viral load 

  • What do you do if you think you have coronavirus? â€”extra precautions: wash surfaces you touch, put away your own dishes, use your own bathroom, stay six feet from other family members

  • Telehealth, Michael’s take on pop-up hospitals like convention centers and cruise ships

  • Flattening the curve isn’t just about COVID-19; it’s about supporting other diseases too (for example, someone having a heart attack where minutes matter)

Resources Mentioned

Check out other episodes of the Pivot Podcast here. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen, and if you enjoy the show I would be very grateful for a rating and/or review! Sign-up for my weekly(ish) #PivotList newsletter to receive curated round-ups of what I’m reading, watching, listening to, and new tools I’m geeking out on.