🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. Track personal progress in your Course and Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Deeper detail lives in the Prepared Patient COVID-19 / Long COVID course.
What COVID-19 Is
SARS-CoV-2 infection. Acute illness for some, persistent symptoms (Long COVID) for others.
Learn ItAntivirals
Paxlovid and others if started early in high-risk patients.
Learn ItSpot the Red Flags
Severe SOB · O2 sat <90% · bluish lips · chest pain · confusion — 911.
Learn ItLong COVID Triggers
Exertion (post-exertional malaise), stress, sleep loss, reinfection.
Learn ItVaccines & Boosters
Current schedule matters — especially for high-risk patients.
Learn ItDaily Tools
If you have Long COVID: pacing, hydration, possibly meds for POTS/sleep/mood.
Live ItHome Pulse Ox
Especially in early illness. Drop below 94% with effort = call team.
Live ItPacing, not Pushing
Post-exertional malaise is real. Graded exercise can backfire. Energy envelope.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring your symptom diary and what your day-to-day looks like.
Live ItYour Care Team
PCP + possibly Long COVID clinic + specialist referrals (cardio, pulm, neuro, OT/PT).
Live ItTelehealth
Most Long COVID care can be telehealth. Apps help track pacing.
Live ItInsurance & Cost
Long COVID is recognized for disability claims — document everything.
Live ItWorkplace Accommodations
ADA covers Long COVID. Flex schedules, quiet work, remote often appropriate.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
Long COVID community has built tools — share them forward.
Share ItAdvocate
Push for research, recognition, and care infrastructure.
Share ItResearch & Trials
RECOVER trials, autoantibody research, mechanism studies.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
COVID lives in two arcs — the acute illness and the post-acute (Long COVID) phase. The ladder handles both.
Handle at home
- Mild cold-like symptoms, no shortness of breath
- Long COVID baseline managed with pacing
- Tested positive but feeling OK
Log it. Rest, hydrate, isolate per public health guidance.
Call the office / message the portal
- High-risk patient (age 65+, immunocompromised, chronic conditions) with new positive test
- Mild shortness of breath that comes and goes
- Persistent fever past day 3
- New Long COVID symptom flare
Same day. Antivirals (Paxlovid, etc.) work best in first 5 days.
Urgent / Acute care
- Shortness of breath with effort — new
- O2 sat <94% on home pulse ox
- Confusion or marked sleepiness
- Severe chest tightness
- Marked dehydration
Urgent care. Bring your med list and O2 sat log.
ER NOW / call 911
- Severe shortness of breath at rest
- O2 sat <90%
- Chest pain
- Bluish lips or fingertips
- Confusion
- Difficulty waking up
Call 911. Wear a mask. Tell them you’re COVID-positive.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Fatigue and brain fog have been a 6 for three weeks since my COVID infection, worse after exercise, better after a long rest day, and I’ve been more lightheaded standing up.”
Questions worth asking
Four for every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for COVID-19 / Long COVID:
- “Am I a candidate for Paxlovid or other antivirals?”
- “What’s the recommended vaccine schedule for me?”
- “If I have Long COVID — what specialty referrals make sense (cardiology, pulmonary, neurology, OT/PT)?”
- “Pacing and graded exercise — what’s safe for me with post-exertional malaise?”
- “Am I on the right symptom-management meds (POTS, dysautonomia, sleep, mood)?”