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    Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been countless examples of healthcare workers adjusting the way they normally do things to provide optimal care to their patients. 

    Leslie Smith, MBA, practice manager, Briarpatch Pediatrics, Sandwich, Mass., has worked alongside the physician-owner Leif Norenberg, MD, for 15 years. Smith says Norenberg’s dedication and efforts to be a servant leader for the practice’s providers, staff and patients has been a beacon during these dark times. 

    “He is tireless; he works a ton of hours and will call people any hour day or night,” said Smith of Norenberg. “He just loves to help people … he is so engaged and so willing to put out and give to our patients, our families and our community.”

    There have been many instances during the past five months when Dr. Norenberg has shown the ability to innovate, think progressively and communicate effectively. However, his engagement may be exemplified best by his work with his patients on Nantucket. 

    A 30-mile ferry ride from Cape Cod, the Island of Nantucket has a limited number of pediatricians. As a result, Briarpatch has a longstanding partnership with Nantucket Cottage Hospital to provide care to the island’s children. The practice’s providers and staff visit the island once a week on Wednesdays, taking the ferry from Hyannis at 6:10 a.m. to see patients. 

    The practice opened a new office on the island in January; once COVID-19 hit, it was forced to pivot because the facility was adjacent to a senior living community. The community director told Dr. Norenberg that they were going to shut down and that Briarpatch would have to find another space for their patients. Fortunately, there was a cottage available across the street, so the practice set up shop there for the next couple months.

    “We were in the bedroom of the cottage; my staff was in the kitchen and the dining room; and the patients would come in to the beautiful fireplace living room and sit on the couch,” said Dr. Norenberg of the makeshift office space Briarpatch arranged.

    While Dr. Norenberg said it was a bit of an adventure, the practice’s patients continued to visit and the residents of the nursing home were reassured they weren’t in harm’s way, despite the outward appearance of Briarpatch’s providers. 

    “I think the residents taking walks and walking their poodles around the nursing home probably were a little bit nervous when they saw me in my little suit, my face shield and my mask, wondering if I was seeing [COVID-19] patients on their property,” said Dr. Norenberg, noting that they never really saw any patients who had COVID-like symptoms. 

    Throughout the pandemic, Briarpatch’s providers and staff have risen above these challenges through their dedication to serving their patients. As Dr. Norenberg conveyed, “We learned pretty quickly who our more tenacious staff were … in a pandemic, you learn who rises to the top and who runs fast.”

    Although their work has at times been overwhelming for the Briarpatch team, Dr. Norenberg wouldn’t have it any other way. “I always tell the staff, along with the privilege of taking care of people on Cape Cod and Nantucket comes responsibility,” he said. “Now’s when they need us the most, and whatever little bit of normalcy we can provide to them … that can help sustain them through a crisis time.”


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