Great message, thank you! Brian Tennessen
On Wed, Mar 18, 2020 at 8:40 AM Richard A King <richardallenk...@gmail.com> wrote: > To MOU Members and Friends: > > > > Our new normal is shaping up to be quickly evolving and stressful. Most of > us have not been challenged with anything like the current Covid-19 > pandemic where this new coronavirus is spreading in the population. > Fortunately, most who are infected have mild or no symptoms. Older people, > particularly those with a problem such as diabetes, heart disease, lung > disease or an organ transplant are at an increased risk of serious lung > infection and congestion, and breathing problems. We are being told that > we need to slow the spread of Covid-19 in the population – to ‘flatten the > curve’ – to give hospitals and the health care providers (physicians, > nurses, technicians) the time to care for those who need their care. Right > now, reducing the chance and rate of exposure to the virus is the only > approach to achieving this. > > > > Self-quarantine and social distancing will help slow virus transmission. In > the meantime, we need something that is positive and up-lifting to manage > our stress about tomorrow and the unknown, and what can be better than > birding. From our windows or in the outdoors, we love to watch birds > because watching them removes us from current problems and generally makes > us happy. Looking at birds as they come to our feeders makes us feel good > any time of year. When we can get outdoors to watch birds, we have the > significant additional benefit of a ‘nature bath’ which many believe > improves our sense of well-being. Watching birds is an excellent way to > reduce stress. We often go birding in groups, but birding alone or with > another person while maintaining our needed social distancing should make > us feel good and help us manage the stresses of the time. As MOU > President, I suggest that our love of birds will help us all get through > these changing times, and we are lucky that this is our passion. Be > healthy and safe, wash your hands, and keep watching. We will get through > this. > > > > Richard A King, MD, PhD > President, MOU > > Professor Emeritus, Medicine > University of Minnesota Medical School > Chair, Board of Directors > Hennepin Health Research Institute > > richardallenk...@gmail.com > > > > -- > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
