News Archive
USF St. Petersburg MBA Grad, a Medical Doctor in the Reserves, Runs Toward the Pandemic Fire in NYC
By Keith Morelli
TAMPA (July 10, 2020) -- The battleground for U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Raja Talati over the past couple of months wasn鈥檛 the mountains of Afghanistan or the deserts of Iraq, but the hallways and intensive care units of Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.
The medical doctor, who is a December graduate of the MBA program at the USF campus in St. Petersburg, practices in Port St Lucie at a nonprofit health care chain and is part of the Air Force鈥檚 927th Refueling Wing reserve unit headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.
He was called to duty in April, when New York City was the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis and Jacobi was the center of the epicenter. For Talati, this duty was no less heart-wrenching than treating soldiers wounded in battle.
鈥淚t was tough,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was especially a big deal for me taking care of people who didn鈥檛 have family to care for them. It was difficult holding hands with someone you don鈥檛 know who is dying. That was tough for me.鈥�
Even patients who had family were not allowed to have physical contact with them.
鈥淭hey couldn鈥檛 be with family with last few breaths of life,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd as family physician that鈥檚 important to me.鈥�
Talati said he and other medical personnel from reserves representing all the armed services were sent to New York City in April and spent two months there. They all had to leave family and work behind.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 one of our callings,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have to leave on a dime, leave a wife and family and we鈥檙e out the door.鈥� They took a military transport plane from MacDill to New York and were bused into New York City. The next day, they were in the hospitals treating patients. 鈥淟ogistically, it was an amazing job.鈥�
The Jacobi Medical Center was overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients over that time, Talati said.
鈥淭hey had been working on this since early March,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey welcomed us. Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx at the time had the highest fatality rate in the city. They lost some of their own and some of the faculty (and staff) were afraid to come in.
鈥淲e filled that role,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he residents there were amazing. I was unfamiliar with COVID-19, so we all helped each other out.鈥� Working from April 4 and returning on June 5 did have an impact.
鈥淥ur support system was that we had each other,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his was difficult. Typically I would go to the gym or hang out with my buddies or just go out to dinner. There, you couldn鈥檛 see each other. At the hospital yes, but not otherwise.鈥�
Connecting with his family also was important. 鈥淢y family learned how to use Zoom and Google Chat and on Saturdays and Sundays, the whole family participated. That was good, it certainly helped.鈥�
Having a front-row seat to the devastation caused by the disease, Talati echoed the recommendations made by the CDC. You don鈥檛 want to be exposed to this virus, he said.
鈥淓verybody (the general public) has done good job, but always there are folks who don鈥檛 want to comply,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 simple: face masks reduce the spread, wash your hands and practice social distancing. This is not rocket science. Not following the recommendations is how we鈥檙e spreading it.
鈥淚 like to go to sports, but I鈥檝e got to be like everybody else and distance myself,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 a big soccer fan and games are still happening on television, even with fake people in the stands. I also play hockey, but you can鈥檛 play with masks on. Maybe curling, but not hockey.鈥�
Getting the word out to young people is also important and what he learned in his MBA courses in analytics gave him an insight into the best ways to solve these types of problems.
鈥淟et numbers speak for themselves,鈥� he said. 鈥淗ow do we mitigate this? Here鈥檚 one way: Youngsters are always on phones. We should use that as medium to relay how things should be done. How to apply analytics to what we see right now.鈥� Getting the word out and educating the public, particularly young people, on best practices can go a long way to reining in this problem, he said, especially in densely populated areas like New York City.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e packed in like sardines there,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen you live so close together you need to take proper precautions. We must look at behavioral patterns to see what people are doing.鈥�
Sharing best medical practices also will help and medical professionals are doing what they can.
鈥淓very Friday,鈥� he said, 鈥淛acobi Medical Center put out new algorithms and I shared that knowledge with hospitals in Miami. Data is important. All stakeholders must be involved in collecting and sharing accurate data.鈥�