DESCRIPTION:

Doctor Dixon Freeman is an OB/GYN specialist in Rome, GA.  The Reverend Doctor Melissa Sexton is a post-doctoral fellow in the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine and an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church.  Dr. Sexton is completing a practicum with the Interfaith Health Program as part of her fellowship; as part of that work, she is interviewing those with particular insights into the religious and spiritual dimensions of the COVID-19 outbreak and our responses to it. 

In this interview, Dr. Freeman discusses how self-sacrifice is part of faith and reflects on the ways in which COVID-19 is calling us to self-sacrifice as people of faith.  Our freedoms and conveniences have been curtailed, all as way to curb the spread of the virus.  This choice is an act of faith and compassion.   Such action reflects the ethical principles in the practice of medicine.  This commitment to service is a core value both professionally and personally. 

While some of these sacrifices are minor—wearing a mask in public or social distancing—others have quite an impact.  Our efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 are creating deep challenges to many people about how to pay for food and shelter for the family.  These challenges are real and they must be addressed.  To do this, we have to adopt an attitude of corporate care and concern for each other.  Such efforts will carry a cost in economic terms for all of us. 

Dr. Freeman ends some good news. First, the outbreak has not had a widespread impact on maternal or neonatal health. Second, while the virus has revealed the gaps and weak points in our public health, clinical, and societal structures, this provides us with an opportunity to reflect on what has been revealed and to address those gaps.