President's Message

March 30, 2020

I know that many of you are deeply involved with the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This challenge to our medical community is like no other we have faced.  While the known disease burden in North Carolina is fairly low today, we know this could change rapidly as in other states and countries. There is a great strain on our entire health care infrastructure and our lives have already been disrupted in ways that will continue for weeks or months. But we are sure to withstand these changes with a commitment to our patients and one another and continued innovation.

Meanwhile, we all have patients who will continue to need cardiovascular care, both those with and those without infection. The ACC continues as the premier cardiovascular educational and practice resource. The Virtual ACC.20/WCC [accscientificsession.acc.org] was very well done and an impressive accomplishment-and free for all of you. The ACCs COVID-19 Hub HERE [acc.org] contains a great deal of useful information for cardiovascular specialists practicing in the midst of the epidemic. Lots of sharing of best practices, information on TeleHealth, advocacy towards safety of health care personnel and rapid and more widely available testing, along with links to past and future webinars.

I will send out another email with a few updates we were to highlight in our councilor meeting, and we also hope to use the newly formatted website (which is more sophisticated and improved!) as a tool for all of us to contribute communications monthly or more often. Please let us know how North Carolina ACC can support you and where we can make a difference in your practice. We welcome your ideas and suggestions.

Lastly today is the end of my three-year term as President of our chapter. It has been a great honor and privilege to serve in that role. We are all lucky and excited to have Jim Zidar now beginning his term. As you know, Jim is the best - a fantastic individual, smart, insightful, and leader that will take us to a much higher level.

Thank you for all you are doing in this critical time and I am looking forward to when we are through this COVID-19 epidemic. In addition to your patients, please take care of yourselves, your families, your colleagues and staff.

William Abernethy, MD, FACC
Asheville Cardiology