Will the pandemic ever end?

We in healthcare are all exhausted. The daily stress of caring for many sick people and putting ourselves at risk is taking a toll. And yet, I continue to be amazed with our team’s resilience. Staff come to work every day to treat people in need and to care for them the way they want their own loved ones cared for. 

I was very proud earlier this week to escort Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski to some of our departments that have been the most affected by COVID-19. We visited the adult and pediatric emergency departments and Unit 38, a medical unit that has cared for hundreds of COVID patients. At each stop, the county executive heard from our leaders and thanked our people for their efforts. 

This week, Governor Hogan declared a state of emergency, giving the Secretary of Health, Dennis Schrader, more power to oversee hospitals and other providers to help us get through this latest surge. One thousand members of the National Guard will be deployed to setup more testing centers and to transport patients where regular ambulance services have been depleted. 

Over the past two weeks, GBMC has opened three new testing centers to alleviate the volume of people looking for testing from the Emergency Department (ED). The first, in the trailer outside the ED is for people who present to the ED but who are deemed to not be significantly ill after a screening exam. The second site was opened at our GBMC Health Partners advanced primary care center on Padonia Road. This is for GBMC Health Partners primary care patients. The third, on the ground floor of the Kahlert Pavilion (Physicians Pavilion North) is for any community member who wants to be tested. We have offered our “drive through” site on farmhouse hill to the Secretary of Health in hopes that the State will open a testing center there. 

As you can see, we are using our core competency, redesigning care, to deal with issues as they arise. We have begun to limit elective surgery to free capacity and staff for more COVID admissions and we are building an alternative labor pool to augment our clinical staff if the number of sick COVID-19 patients continues to grow. 

We know that the Omicron variant is much more contagious than the previous forms of the virus and that on average it causes people to be less sick. Over the past three weeks our Emergency Department volume has skyrocketed, but it has dropped significantly over the past 4 days. This mirrors what was seen in South Africa and in the United Kingdom with Omicron, so we are hopeful that we are getting closer to herd immunity.

Many people have asked me over the last several weeks, “what can we do to reinvigorate ‘joy’ at work?”    

Our fabulous Vice President for Philanthropy and Marketing and Communication, Jenny Coldiron has worked with Patty Leaverton, the Corner Shop Manager, to provide snacks to weekend and off-shift clinical staff. Jenny and Greg Shaffer and their marketing and communications team have been collecting expressions of thanks from patients and members of the community for healthcare workers who have made a difference for them. The marketing team came up with the idea for a Wall of Gratitude, located by the former main entrance of the hospital. This will be a place where our community shares words of encouragement, appreciation and thanks for the care and compassion they experienced at GBMC or Gilchrist. I have been reviewing a few of the 360 (and counting) submissions. These letters clearly serve as a bright spot for healthcare workers on the front lines battling the pandemic. If you would like to submit a message please visit here, where you can both submit and read the messages.

By the ED concourse you will find another visual display that will be used to promote messages of encouragement and thanks.

What are other ways for us to increase joy at work?  Please give us your thoughts.

Unit 47 is officially open!

Earlier this week, we held a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open Unit 47 as the new Integrative Care Unit. This unit has moved from Unit 36 to continue its mission of serving behavioral health patients with acute medical problems. Click here to see a tour of the new space. I want to thank everyone responsible for creating this beautiful space where our outstanding staff can better treat those in need.