Collaborating with diocesan bishops 2 Executive changes 7 COVID and dementia 8 PERIODICAL RATE PUBLICATION
FEBRUARY 15, 2021 VOLUME 37, NUMBER 3
Doctor who treated first U.S. COVID patient reflects By LISA EISENHAUER
Looking back on the year that has passed since he treated the first U.S. patient confirmed to have COVID-19, Dr. George Diaz finds reasons to be encouraged even as the pandemic continues to rage. Diaz is an infectious disease specialist with Providence St. Joseph Health based at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett in Washington state. He has been among the leaders guiding the system’s response to the pandemic. At 49, he has been practicing in his specialty field since 2005. He and his colleagues in Everett not only successfully treated that first patient, including making use of the antiviral remdesivir for COVID treatment for the first time in the world, they helped develop the system’s protocols for COVID treatment. They have taken part in clinical studies for other promising drugs and been part of a Continued on 6
Thoracic surgeon Dr. Kumari Adams of Saint Joseph Mercy Health System of Canton, Michigan, mugs for the camera after receiving a COVID inoculation.
Dr. George Diaz and other members of the infection control team at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett in Washington state take part in a moment of silence on Jan. 19. The event marked the one-year anniversary of when the first patient confirmed to have COVID-19 in the nation came to a Providence clinic for care.
As COVID symptoms linger, doctors search for causes, treatments Care providers say the experience of long haulers underscores the importance of masking and other infection precautions
Ministry facilities aim to increase vaccine acceptance among people of color
By LISA EISENHAUER
Trust building, authenticity are essential People of color have had higher rates of infection, more severe illness and higher rates of death from COVID-19 than white people. Many in the health system in the U.S. are aiming to ensure people in minority populations get equitable access to vaccination. Vaccine hesitancy is an early hurdle they are working to surmount. In a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in late November before regulators gave emergency approval to the first vaccines, 42% of Black and 63% of Hispanic adult respondents said they would definitely or probably get immunized as compared with 61% of white adults. About 18% of the total survey group said that although they didn’t want to be among the first groups to be vaccinated, they hadn’t ruled out being vaccinated. A sampling of Catholic health leaders said their systems and facilities are committed to addressing racial disparities as part of the national COVID vaccination effort. They are being intentional about listening to the concerns of members of the public who are worried about vaccination and then addressing those concerns. The systems are focusing outreach efforts on minority and other vulnerable populations, including Black and Hispanic people and immigrants. Dr. Loren Robinson, vice president of medical affairs at CHRISTUS Health, said Continued on 4
Lisa Eisenhauer/© CHA
By JULIE MINDA
A care provider treats a patient with a history of COVID-19 in an intensive care unit at SSM Health DePaul Hospital in suburban St. Louis. Early studies show that about 10% of people who are infected with the virus suffer long-term symptoms, such as fatigue, headaches and sleep disturbances.
In January, Loyola Medicine opened a specialty neurology clinic that amounts to a stake in the ground on what could be the next frontier of the COVID-19 pandemic. It treats patients struggling with debilitating and unrelenting symptoms weeks or months after the acute stage of the infection. The condition known as long-haul COVID or long COVID is thought to occur in about 10% of people infected. It may reflect persistent immune activation and/or lingering inflammation, and may be independent of the severity of the initial COVID infection. Dr. José Biller, professor and chair of the department of neurology at Loyola University Medical Center in suburban Chicago and Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, heads the clinic with two neurology colleagues. While the clinic’s Continued on 5
Health care improvement expert extols transformation based on morality By LISA EISENHAUER
Dr. Donald M. Berwick acknowledged that the call he put out to those attending CHA’s Sponsorship Institute to pursue “the moral determinants of health” was a big ask. He has mounted a campaign to urge the nation to refocus its efforts to improve health away from Berwick clinical care and toward addressing underlying causes of poor health such as underperforming schools,
low-paying jobs, inadequate housing and the social isolation of older citizens. He laid out his proposal in “The Moral Determinants of Health,” an opinion piece that appeared in the JAMA Network on June 12. “No scientific doubt exists that, mostly, circumstances outside health care nurture or impair health,” he wrote. Berwick expanded upon his thoughts when he spoke at the Sponsorship Institute on Jan. 19. The event, which continued on Jan. 21, drew about 100 people from Catholic health ministries. Its topic was “Charting a Path Forward for the Post-COVID-19 World and Church Relations.”
Berwick is a clinical pediatrician who has a long list of accomplishments. They include running the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Barack Obama and being president emeritus and a senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a nonprofit focused on motivating and building the will for change. He also was a co-author of two seminal reports on how to improve health care: To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System and Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century. The reports were products of the Continued on 3