It Takes a Big Team: Celebrating National Hospital Week

The GBMC HealthCare System is different from other systems because our vision is so tightly aligned with what our owners want. Who are our owners? They are the members of our community. We create systems to deliver what people need and we use our core competency of redesigning care to adapt our systems when those needs evolve.

We are very fortunate to have an excellent hospital as part of our system of care: Greater Baltimore Medical Center. I want to celebrate it and all those who work in it.

This week (May 10-16) is National Hospital Week, when America takes time to recognize and thank our hospital workers. The American Hospital Association has designated this year’s theme as “Where Health Comes First.”

During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it is particularly important for all members of the community reflect on the value of a hospital. We have certainly seen an outpouring of support for our clinicians and support staff over the last few months.

Celebrating National Hospital Week provides an opportunity to thank all the dedicated individuals – physicians, nurses, therapists, engineers, food service workers, volunteers, administrators, and so many more – for their contributions. I am very grateful for all that our hospital team does every day.

I also want to thank our community, GBMC’s owners, for the opportunity to provide them with the care that we would want for our own loved ones, especially during these difficult times.

It Wasn’t Easy, But We Did It!
Recently, it was announced that GBMC received an “A” grade from The Leapfrog Group.

The Leapfrog Group is a national hospital safety organization that grades hospitals, in a range from A through F, twice a year on how well they protect patients from errors, injuries, and infections. They rate over 2,600 general acute care hospitals across the country, including 40 in Maryland. The grades are meant to provide a measuring stick for choosing a hospital for care.

Earning an “A” is not easy – we are one of only 12 hospitals in the state to receive the highest mark. This validation is especially important now as many people are avoiding or delaying medical care out of fear of COVID-19. The public needs to know that GBMC is in an elite group of the safest hospitals in the state and we are doing everything we can to keep them safe. I am very proud of this honor and our team.

We will take a moment to celebrate, but we will not stop our improvement work until we achieve zero harm. I want to thank our entire clinical team, Laura Hines, RN, SCNR, Director of Clinical Quality Outcomes, and Carolyn Candiello, Vice President for Quality and Patient Safety, for their efforts in collecting the data for the survey. Great work, everyone!

Corvettes on Our Campus
On Wednesday, many of you saw a parade of Corvettes travelling across the GBMC campus.

To salute our doctors, nurses, other clinicians, and support staff, the NCRS Mason-Dixon Corvette Chapter conducted a “thank you” drive-through ending with a roar by the main entrance of the hospital. The thunderous sound from Corvette engines entertained the on-lookers and was greatly appreciated by our employees.

Over the last two weeks, COVID-19 responders, essential workers, and healthcare personnel across our state have been honored with tributes that included the deafening sounds of fighter jets during flyovers by the US Navy Blue Angels, US Air Force Thunderbirds, and the Maryland National Guard A10’s. This Corvette caravan was special in that it specifically recognized GBMC employees for their hard work and dedication during the pandemic.

I want to thank Steve and Eileen Lesser, along with all the members of the NCRS Mason-Dixon Corvette Chapter, for bringing joy to our staff with this thoughtful event.

A Salute to Our Nurses

When the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that 2020 would be the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, no one realized just how appropriate it would be. The work of nurses in the battle against COVID-19 has been extraordinary this year. The pandemic has shined a spotlight on their selfless efforts. Another reason to celebrate in 2020 is that Tuesday, May 12, marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

This week is National Nurses Week, a time to thank the many talented nurses throughout the GBMC HealthCare System for their tireless dedication to serving others. Their expertise, hard work, and caring drives us closer to our vision every day. Please join me in extending a special thanks and warm wishes to all of our nurses who continue to live our mission of health, healing and hope for the community. Our nurses make a difference!

Cheering and Applauding
To kick off National Nurses Week, many of our employees joined together (with appropriate social distancing, of course!) to honor our nurses and to celebrate them for all that they do for our patients, especially during this time of crisis.

I want to thank all my colleagues who stood with me to recognize our nurses by applauding, cheering, and holding signs as they arrived for their shifts at the hospital.

If you would like to honor a GBMC nurse, you can participate in our Nurses Week Food Drive to help the many people experiencing food insecurity during the COVID-19 crisis. Please consider donating non-perishable food items at the main hospital screening stations (Main entrance, Bus Loop - closest to Einstein's, Bluebell Park, OB, ED/Lily Garage) until Wednesday, May 13. All collected food items will then be delivered to the Maryland Food Bank.

GBMC HealthCare on the “new radio”
Our Marketing department has done an excellent job in promoting the GBMC HealthCare System in unique ways. They have used social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and created partnerships with media outlets like WMAR-TV and WBAL AM radio.

Now, the Marketing team has taken us to one of the hottest media platforms in America – podcasting. Earlier this year, “To Your Health,” previously a Facebook Live show, was transitioned into a monthly podcast that can be heard here and on podcast networks such as iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

I think now is the appropriate time to mention this podcast as the latest edition focuses on the nursing profession and gives insight on how treating patients has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Angie Feurer, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Director of Critical Care, Emergency Services, and Medicine at GBMC, who is featured on the program, does an excellent job explaining what has changed in nursing over the last few months and what it’s like to be a nurse working in a hospital during these unprecedented times.

Give it a listen! I think you will find it interesting and informative.

Way to go, Cate!

This year in celebration of National Nurses Week, The Baltimore Sun profiled nurses from various hospitals in our region. I am proud to say that our hospital was very well represented by Cate O’Connor-Devlin, BSN, RN, our Performance Improvement and Patient Experience Administrator. If interested you can read Cate’s profile in The Sun here.

Those who know Cate are aware that she is not one to welcome the spotlight and prefers to do what she loves without any fanfare. I’ve heard her say many times, “it’s no big deal, I am just doing my job.” On the contrary, Cate lives our vision phrase of treating every patient, every time, the way we would want for our own loved ones. Thanks for your commitment, Cate, and congrats on your recognition.

I also want to extend my kudos to Kristin Metzger, one of our nurses at Gilchrist, for also being highlighted by The Sun.

Congratulations!!!
Earlier this week, The Daily Record announced their “2020 Health Care Heroes” winners and I am proud to announce that two members of the GBMC family were honored.

These awards highlight individuals who have played a major role in improving the quality of healthcare in Maryland. They are recognized for “professional achievements, community involvement, and inspiring change.”

I want to congratulate Dr. Tony Riley, Chief Medical Officer of Gilchrist, for being honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award and Beverly Ruiz, MS, CRNP, team lead for the Elder Medical Care Home Program, who was selected for the Nurse Practitioner of the Year Award.

Congratulations to all our colleagues for their hard work and for getting the acknowledgement they so rightfully deserve!

Unsung Heroes During The COVID-19 Crisis

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has put a major strain on every hospital’s supply chain and I realized that I have taken the GBMC supply chain for granted. A well-functioning materials management system is a prerequisite in caring for patients. Every day, we need medications and other medical and surgical equipment like masks (N95, ear loop procedure, surgical tie, and others), isolation and surgical gowns, PAPR disposable head covers, and face shields – to name just some of our supplies.

Our system team, led by Brian Riemer, Director of Supply Chain, has always worked closely with suppliers to secure materials and with our logistics partners to manage and mitigate any potential disruption to the delivery of supplies. This work has become much more difficult during the COVID-19 crisis. Because of the team’s excellent work, our clinicians have had what they need to care for our patients. Here are some examples of their work:

Supply Chain – COVID-19 Highlights

• The Supply Chain team manages 383 different items that are in very high demand and have inventory shortages. Some of these high-use items are either out-of-stock or have allocations of 30% or less than our normal usage. Each of these items requires the Supply Chain team to search for alternative products or sources. In addition to the shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), disinfecting wipes have become very difficult to obtain. The team has worked with Infection Prevention and other clinical teams to identify eight different alternatives to our standard disinfecting wipe.

• The Supply Chain team explored and vetted 164 alternate source vendors to provide PPE. These are not normal suppliers to the healthcare industry. This vetting process is necessary to avoid scams and determine who can deliver high-quality products in a timely manner. It involves investigating FDA registrations for overseas factories and validating documentation for importing medical products to ensure that counterfeit or substandard products are not brought in for use by our clinical teams.

• The Supply Chain department purchased materials for and coordinated the assembly of 15,000 face shields. It was a huge effort with team members enlisting the help of their families to prepare the materials prior to assembly. This included cutting elastic and foam pieces to length in their homes! The Alternate Labor Pool was then used to assemble the face shields.

• The team used local distilleries to source more than 300 gallons of hand sanitizer to supplement GBMC’s Purell supply.

• The Supply Chain team worked closely with GBMC Health Partners and Gilchrist to obtain supplies and share them across the organization. GBMC Health Partners has been maximizing PPE orders with their distributor, even if the practices do not currently need the materials. Gilchrist has then been able to utilize those excess supplies to serve hospice patients.

• Materials Management created spaces on the 5th floor of the main hospital and in the warehouse building on Farmhouse Hill to manage the influx of PPE and other materials. GBMC  expanded beyond its just-in-time delivery model to store large quantities of PPE and other supplies that have been imported in bulk. The team manages 700+ inventory items daily.

Please join me in thanking these unsung heroes for all they do!

Thank – you for your support!
Over the past few weeks, there has been an outpouring of support for healthcare workers at GBMC, in our state, and across the nation – they have truly stepped up during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The team needs the community’s continued support, which is why we are participating in a global day of giving and unity, known as Giving Tuesday Now, on Tuesday, May 5th. All funds raised on that day will benefit the GBMC HealthCare Workers Fund and help our employees. Please consider participating. Thank you!

I Miss Seeing Our Volunteers

As we celebrate National Volunteer Week (April 19-25) and Volunteer Appreciation Day (April 20), I want to thank our volunteers who have selflessly donated their time and talent to our healthcare system.

Our volunteers have not been onsite because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis and we are getting by without them only because we are serving fewer patients in the hospital. On a typical day they are directing patients to where they need to go, serving people with a smile in the gift shop, and helping throughout the campus and at Gilchrist.

Each of our volunteers has their own special talents that they use freely to help us deliver health, healing and hope to their community. I want them all to know how much we value their efforts and how much we miss them. I look forward to seeing them again, hopefully soon.

This week is also Medical Laboratory Professionals Week (April 18-25) and for over a month now, our medical laboratory professionals and pathologists have focused on preparing samples, running tests, and helping identify COVID-19 cases. Our laboratory is full of unsung heroes. Their work is critical to our mission, but often forgotten. We are so fortunate to have the most highly reliable laboratory that I have ever seen, and I want to thank its leaders, Robert Palermo, MD, and Janis Smith. We are blessed with outstanding pathologists, technologists, technicians, phlebotomists, managers, administrative personnel, and others on the team. I want to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation for the work they do behind the scenes to drive us towards our vision.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. GBMC’s Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) and Domestic Violence (DV) Program does so much for our community, especially during the current pandemic.

Sexual assault and domestic violence patients not only get quality medical-forensic treatment but also receive much needed crisis intervention and safety planning. Under the leadership of, Laura Clary, BSN, RN, FNE-A/P, SANE-A, our SAFE & DV program is expanding in new directions as additional needs are identified. The pandemic has increased the risk of abuse as the crisis has created more stress and less opportunity for the victims to distance themselves from their abusers.
We want the community to know that our SAFE & DV Program is always available – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – and our doors are open to those in need even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To learn more on how our program continues to serve survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, even during these times, please check out this video here that our marketing team put together.

Preparing for the Next Steps: Case Finding and Contact Tracing

Many people are asking me “When do you think that life will go back to normal?” They are getting tired of social distancing and not being able to do most of the things they enjoy. We must still be vigilant, wash our hands, and keep a safe distance from others, but it appears that the steps taken to control the coronavirus (COVID-19) have had a positive effect and the peak of the outbreak may not be as bad as was once thought. If this is the case, since our economy is suffering from these restrictions, the pressure will be on the Governor to let people go back to work.

However, lessening the restrictions is potentially dangerous unless we are prepared for the next steps. A few months ago, when COVID-19 first came to the United States, 100% of the population was susceptible to contracting the disease. Now, some have had the disease and survived and carry antibodies against the virus and are immune. Others have not been exposed and are still susceptible.

Since we have not had enough test kits available to test directly for the virus or to do blood testing for its antibodies, we really don’t know what percentage of the population is still susceptible. Since there still is no treatment or vaccine, lifting the restrictions could allow the virus to spread rapidly once again. We must be able to find each new case, quarantine the patient, and then identify his or her contacts and quarantine them as well.

This case finding and contact tracing is already done for other diseases by our local health departments. If a patient is identified as having syphilis, for example, they are reported to the health department, which then interviews the patient, identifies anyone who the patient may have transmitted the disease to, and contacts them as well. The contacts are tested and treated if they come back positive. This process will be more difficult with COVID-19 because it is very contagious and can be transmitted to a larger number of people.

Experts at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health released a paper entitled “A National Plan To Enable Comprehensive COVID-19 Case Finding and Contact Tracing in the U.S.” You may want to read this paper. It identifies the steps needed to create a system of case finding and contact tracing for the country and it gives an estimate of the costs associated with building such a system.

Over the next few weeks, the conversation will turn from the medical care of COVID-19 patients and the work of hospitals, to the next phase: the work of a revitalized public health system. Stay tuned.

Creating More Wellness in this Time of Sickness

After I got home from work last night, I went for a run and I was really impressed with the number of people who were out walking or running in my neighborhood. I started to think that this might be another good thing to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic – a new push towards better overall health.

Behind frail elders, those with chronic diseases are at the second highest risk for death related to COVID-19. Unhealthy habits like smoking, overeating, and not exercising can cause conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), obesity, and diabetes – now, more than ever, it’s critical to reduce these habits. Wouldn’t it be great if people took this as an opportunity to focus on their health as a whole?

Our “Virtual” Walk for a Great Cause
I want to thank everyone who participated in our fifth annual Walk a Mile in Their Shoes event. We had over 300 participants, who walked or ran 2,501.76 miles (three times our goal of 725 miles!), helping us to raise more than $67,500 for our Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) and Domestic Violence program.

In response to the pandemic, we created a VIRTUAL version of this annual event. It is great to see that the support and participation from our community was even stronger than with the previous in-person events. COVID-19 did not deter people from shedding light on the extremely important issues of sexual assault and domestic violence in our community. I am grateful for their commitment to the cause even through this crisis. Walk a Mile in Their Shoes allows GBMC to provide the necessary services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at no cost to our patients.

I want to thank the GBMC Foundation, our Volunteer Auxiliary, and all parties who virtually walked with us to make this year’s event a major success!

Thank you to our social workers
I want to extend my appreciation to our social workers who are doing so much during these challenging times. As COVID-19 continues to impact more individuals and communities, our social workers are working on the frontlines side-by-side with our clinicians to maintain preventative and treatment services for all of our patients. I have always been impressed by the resourcefulness and fortitude of this group and we are truly fortunate to have such a talented and hard-working group of social workers on our team.

Give a much-needed morale boost to your colleagues
Over the last several weeks, many members of the community have shared encouraging messages for our nurses, doctors and other members of our workforce on social media. I’m very appreciative of the community’s efforts to encourage our dedicated healthcare workers.

I want to extend the same opportunity to all the GBMC family who might be interested in sending along positive thoughts to their coworkers.

Remember we are all in this together! I hope you take advantage of this opportunity and click here to offer your words of encouragement to a colleague.

Happy Passover and Easter
As we learn to live with the challenges of sheltering in place and social distancing, I hope that many of you will still be able to maintain a part of your holiday traditions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For those staff members working during their spring holiday, a special thank you for taking care of those who are ill during this time. I grateful for all of you. I want to offer my best wishes to everyone celebrating Passover and Easter.

Meeting the Needs of those with Chronic Disease During the Pandemic

It’s clear that people are heeding the call not to come to Emergency Departments (ED) with non-emergent needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. GBMC and the other ED’s in our area have seen around a 40% reduction in visits. Since people are also staying away from physician offices, we should be concerned that those with chronic disease may have needs that are currently not being met. GBMC Health Partners has made fabulous progress in improving the health of patients with diabetes, for example. How can we assure that these gains are not lost? Our nurse care managers and care coordinators have been reaching out to those with chronic disease on the phone and our providers have done more than 2,600 video visits over the last three weeks! What a great testament to our core competency of redesigning care to meet the needs of those we serve regardless of what comes our way.

Earlier this week, our Marketing Department coordinated three Facebook Live interviews, one of which included our Chief of Endocrinology, Dr. Ruth Horowitz. Dr. Horowitz provided some very important information for those with diabetes about why it’s important to take extra precautions during the COVID-19 outbreak. If you are interested, click here.

Walking for A Great Cause!

To follow social distancing guidelines and avoid bringing a large group of walkers together, we decided to do this year’s Walk a Mile in Their Shoes event VIRTUALLY.

Walk a Mile in Their Shoes, hosted by the GBMC Foundation and presented by the GBMC Volunteer Auxiliary, financially supports our Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) and Domestic Violence (DV) Program. This event has continued to grow over the years and I am hopeful that, despite these unprecedented times, this year will be no different.

So, I ask everyone to walk or run a mile (or more) and to encourage their friends to do the same, anytime between now and Saturday, April 4, for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. Our goal is to reach 725 virtual miles in recognition of the 725 patients who received help from the SAFE and DV Program in 2019. There are three simple steps to take:

1. Take a photo or video of yourself walking or running a mile (or more!)
2. Post the photo or video on any social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) - use hashtag #GBMCWalkaMile, tag GBMC HealthCare, or email socialmedia@gbmc.org so we can feature you!
3. Complete this form to let us know how many miles you walked/run so we can meet our goal of 725 miles. (And we’ll mail you a T-Shirt!)

We are so proud of our SAFE and DV program, and with your help, we can continue to be a leader in this area by serving those in need and educating the community.

If you’re interested in participating in our virtual walk or want to donate to our SAFE and DV program, it’s not too late. Please visit www.gbmc.org/WalkaMile for further details.Thank you!

Doctor’s Day 2020

March 30th (this past Monday) was the annual Doctor’s Day. On this day we thank physicians for their commitment to serving those in need. I’m honored to recognize our doctors who, despite the risks that they face, continue to serve on the front lines to care for people and help to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The pandemic is taking an emotional toll on all, and that includes physicians. Healthcare workers across the country are sacrificing for others. If you are looking for ways to make a difference, please consider a donation to our HealthCare Workers Fund to support those on the front lines who are making these sacrifices to keep us safe. Thank you!