Chad Bogue’s dedication to his role as a medical guardian is second-to-none. On multiple occasions since he first flew with Honor Flight Chicago in 2016, Chad has answered the call to be a late addition to flight day, leading to his making seven total trips in the last four years.
“My ER mangaer, Deb, went on five honor flights and was talking one day about how rewarding and humbling the experience was,” Chad said. “I heard it and said ‘I have got to do this.’ Later that year I did my first flight, and never looked back. I have a flexible schedule so if someone gets sick or backs out, I can go on a moments notice.”
Recently retired from the City of Portage Fire Department after 21 years with the rank of Division Chief of Turn Operations, Chad is two months into his new life as a family nurse practitioner in a family practice office in Portage, Indiana. Those two months have NOT been what he expected, but they do illustrate how all medical care has been affected by COVID-19 – not just emergency rooms and hospitals.
“My story (surrounding COVID-19) isn’t as exciting as ER nursing, but it is unique in its own right,” he said. “In order to meet the health care needs of the community and keep them safe at the same time, we are only doing telemedicine visits. No patients are allowed in the office.”
Using an app called doxy.me or FaceTime, patients are able to interact with the doctors and nurses at the practice to get medicine refills or talk to their provider about problems they may have without risking getting sick sitting in urgent care or an ER waiting room.
“Patients are grateful that we can take care of their needs doing the telemedicine appointments without them having to get sick,” Chad said. “We’re even using pharmacies that do home delivery.”
With guidelines for screening, testing and treating COVID-19 patients changing almost every day, the practice constantly reviews the CDC and government guidelines to provide the best possible care.
“People have a lot of questions about COVID-19 and there is a lot of bad information out there,” Chad said. “We spend a lot of time separating fact from fiction so we can inform people what is best for them. Social isolation is a real thing because it really works! Prevention, once again, is the best medicine.”
While COVID-19 is preventing Honor Flight Chicago from flying our full schedule in 2020, we know Chad will be ready to get on board as soon as it’s safe once again for us to honor our heroes in Washington, D.C.!
“People have a lot of questions about COVID-19 and there is a lot of bad information out there. We spend a lot of time separating fact from fiction so we can inform people what is best for them.”