The Good Doctor

The Good Doctor: Dr. Neil Jaddou: Community Leader, Educator, Frontline Worker

Holly Abboo, Somerset Family Medicine Office Manager

Serving Michigan’s Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties for the past 20 years, Somerset Family Medicine (SFM) has pledged its full support to the frontline of the COVID-19 battle since the beginning of this unprecedented pandemic.  Dr. Neil Jaddou M.D and the entire staff’s unwavering dedication to patient care during this pandemic is truly impressive. 

As safety became more paramount and the staff and patients became more nervous, Dr. Jaddou immediately reacted to the situation and reached to our suppliers and bought personal protective equipment and installed plexiglass at the reception window.  He constantly “checked-in” with us to ensure our safety and to reduce our anxiety during this dangerous epidemic.    

As the situation worsened on the ground, to protect the staff and the for the safety of the patients, especially the seniors, he immediately implemented telehealth visits.  He became the voice of comfort for many (he provided hope that “everything will be ok”).  He coordinated with pharmacies convincing them to approve the hydroxychloroquine prescription to give treatment options to infected patients, transferring patients to hospitals those who became ill and speaking with ER doctors to ensure each patient received proper care during this chaotic situation.

As the number of infected people increased, so did the volume of phone calls.  We were overwhelmed with the stressed patients who were turned away by the hospitals due to the limited number of testing kits.  Being in touch with the city leaders, Dr. Jaddou directed these patients to the Joe Dumar/State Fair testing site in Detroit to get tested.  He also informed all of our community doctors about this testing site.  Hence, we give our sincere gratitude to the city of Detroit leaders, its hospitals and the health department.

Despite the increasing work hours from early morning to evening, Monday-Saturday, Dr. Jaddou realized the importance of educating the community during this crisis.  Having been a professor of Microbiology and Immunology, you can tell he knows this disease well.  Hence, he developed a special radio segment on the John Zia Oram Show (690AM, Facebook and YouTube) three times a week. The uniqueness of his show is that he explains everything in three languages: Chaldean, Arabic and English in a way that anyone would understand.  He constantly stressed the importance of social distancing, handwashing and how to boast our immunity and also what to do if we became infected.  He also wrote articles for the Chaldean News and the Somerset Gazette Newspaper. 

While we’ve all been distressed these last few months, Dr. Jaddou has calmed our fears and anxieties with expert guidance, vital information, and much needed humor. Most importantly, Dr. Jaddou has provided hope. Hope that we can all work together to defeat this invisible enemy.  For these and many other reasons we call him “Dr. Spicy” (he adds a little spice to all our lives).  May God bless Dr. Jaddou, the SFM Staff and all the frontline workers in US and around the world.

P.S.: Dr. Jaddou would like to take this opportunity to extend his sincere thanks to his courageous medical team, his loyal patients, and all those in the front line that have demonstrated resilience, compassion, and leadership during the COVID-19 crisis. But even more so, we as a staff at SFM would like to express our gratitude to Dr. Neil Jaddou. Thank you for your counsel. Thank you for your fortitude. And thank you for adding a little bit of spice to our lives when we need it most. Our community is in good hands.