Direct Line from Steve Edwards: 1/14/22

Jan. 14, 2022

COVID-19 update

The surge of omicron cases is upon us and our teams have spent the week implementing plans to accommodate what we expect will be significant wave. We continue to experience high patient volumes and rising COVID-19 cases.

As of this morning, we had 144 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Over the last seven days, we have lost a total of 22 patients, six of those on Thursday alone.

Each one of these losses weighs heavily on our staff and they are a reminder of the seriousness of the situation we face.

As patient volumes rise, we are also experiencing more staff out of work due to COVID-19. This week, we estimate that number to be in the 300 range, about 2.4% of our staff. We are planning for the possibility of having 10% or more of our staff out before this wave is over.

These challenges are compounded by the expiration of Missouri’s state of emergency, which ended on Dec. 31, 2021. The expiration of the state of emergency and related waivers has created some barriers to getting assistance we may need.

Most waivers have been individually approved. One important waiver, however, was allowed to expire: a waiver that allows physicians from out of state to practice in our state during a public health emergency. During the delta surge, we received critical assistance from physicians traveling from out of state to help us. We have made efforts to convince the governor to fix this, but without a designated public health emergency, the only apparent solution is a legislative fix.

Right now, departments across the system have developed a three-tiered plan to help us manage increasing levels of severity and reduced staff in the coming weeks. While we are hoping for the best, we are preparing for the worst.

Our teams are tired and running on adrenaline. We will continue to provide excellent care and we are asking the community for patience as we work through the surge.

Primary care physicians add acute-care appointments

We announced this week that our primary care physicians are adjusting schedules to free up appointments for patients who are symptomatic.

Some wellness and routine appointments planned for the next 30-45 days may be rescheduled as our physicians create more capacity to care for the acutely ill. The extra appointments created by rescheduling will allow primary care physicians to take on patients from our urgent cares, which are operating beyond capacity.

We are asking patients who are ill and seeking care to call their primary care physician’s office or use our Virtual Visits on Demand service.

Adding help to manage the surge

Our clinical teams are working hard to care for patients and this week we took two key steps to support them with additional helping hands.

First, we launched a new program to hire health care students for temporary support roles. The temporary positions include duties such as passing food trays, answering call lights, taking vital signs and ambulating patients.

In addition, we asked employees to pick up extra shifts by joining Team 19 – our team of employees who have stepped up to assist throughout the system.

Both the temporary student support roles and our Team 19 staff help our clinical staff focus on patient care.

Supreme Court supports vaccination requirements for health care workers

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to move forward with a policy requiring COVID-19 vaccination for health care workers at facilities that receive funds from Medicare and Medicaid.

The court’s support of the policy reaffirms our universal vaccination approach. In health care, we have a duty to do all we can to keep patients safe. We believe vaccinating health care workers is the right decision to protect our patients.

Data continues to reinforce the safety of vaccines

Two recent studies published by the CDC reinforce the safety and efficacy of vaccines for pregnant women and for children.

On pregnancy, the CDC report includes more than 40,000 pregnant women in a multistate study. It shows that COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy was not associated with preterm birth or small-for-gestational-age at birth overall. You can see the report at this link.

For children, a new report looks at outcomes since the authorization of the vaccine for children in October 2021. After more than eight million doses delivered, no serious adverse events related to vaccination were reported. The report is available here.

Voice of the patient

Adapted from a message to the Cox Monett Facebook page: “My mom was taken to your hospital a few weeks ago by ambulance for chest pain. I want you to know that we had absolutely great service there. Please thank the wonderful staff who helped care my loved one. They were all extremely professional, efficient and kind.”

Thank you for all you do,
Steve