COVID and Civil Unrest Touch Us All

By Barbara A. Preston I January 8, 2021

As a trauma center surgeon, Rocky Hill resident Dennis P. Quinlan, Jr., MD, provides life-saving triage —treating abdominal stab wounds, removing bullets from gun-shot wounds, stabilizing patients with head or brain injuries sustained in car accidents. Sometimes he is called upon to insert chest tubes between a COVID patients' ribs to allow a collapsed lung to re-inflate.

Yet, it is the non-COVID emergencies that bring droves of patients to his Level 2 trauma center in Trenton. "Things get busy when there is a lot of uneasiness in the world," he said during a telephone interview. "People become less attached to society, and become more risk adverse. Violence is up. Car accidents are up. Everything is up."

Dennis P. Quinlan, Jr., MD receives his COVID vaccine.

Quinlan will speak with his college-age daughter, Brianne Quinlan, on how COVID, civil unrest, including the president's refusal to peacefully leave office, affects us all. Join The Montgomery News for the second installment of "Community Voices" on Zoom on Thursday, January 14 at 7:30 pm.

Register for "Community Voices" online

About Dennis P. Quinlan, MD

Dr. Dennis Quinlan was named associate medical director of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Trauma Center at Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton in 2017. He earned his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)—New Jersey Medical School in Newark. He completed his general surgery residency and received fellowship training in cardiothoracic surgery at UMDNJ—New Jersey Medical School. He also completed a surgical critical care fellowship at Christiana Care in Newark, Delaware.

Prior to joining Capital Health in 2008, Dr. Quinlan held appointments at St. James Hospital (Newark), UMDNJ-University Hospital (Newark), Union Hospital (Union), Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Rahway, and Trinitas Hospital (Elizabeth). Dr. Quinlan is board certified in general surgery, critical care and thoracic surgery. His triple board certification is unique among trauma surgeons in the state of New Jersey. He is a member of The American College of Surgeons and The Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma.

Dr. Quinlan is an instructor in ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support).

About Brianne Quinlan

Brianne Quinlan

Brianne Quinlan graduated from Montgomery High School in 2019. She is a sophomore at the College of Sport and Human Dynamics at Syracuse University.

Brianne will interview her father about his work as a surgeon during the pandemic and this time of civil unrest. She will also explore the topic of COVID vaccinations, and the experience getting the vaccine.

Community Voices by The Montgomery News

"Community Voices" is a new, monthly online discussion featuring the people of the Montgomery region through short engaging videos. Guests will converse about topics related to the core beliefs that guide their daily lives. We hope to feature people of all walks of life — the very young and the very old, community leaders to the previously unknown, teachers, students, politicians, farmers, poets, entrepreneurs, activists, and executives.

If you would like to suggest a community member to be a guest on a future episode of "Community Voices," please email Karen Dentler, special project manager, at Karen@themontynews.com.