5 minute read
COVID-19 Pandemic
A Reflection of Collaboration
Over the course of the past year, aspects of everyday life were turned upside down. Perhaps nowhere was the impact of the pandemic felt more than in hospitals all across the world. The burden was felt by staff and community members needing the services during uncertain and fearful times. The challenges faced were, and continue to be, physical, mental, and emotional.
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March of 2020 was a pivotal point for our community in Santa Cruz County, as we saw our first patients suffering from the novel coronavirus, now known as COVID-19 or SARSCoV-2. Preparations at Dominican Hospital had been made well in advance led by local infectious diseases specialists such as Nanette Mickiewicz, MD, President/CEO, and Sunita Singh, MD. “Over the past year, we have come together at Dominican to face this pandemic with steadfast resolve to take care of our communities in their greatest time of need,” comments Dr. Mickiewicz. “Time and time again, through collaboration, teamwork, and raw determination, we have risen to meet the challenge.”
Because this is a “novel” virus that had not been seen in medical literature before, there was heavy emphasis on reviewing available literature from regions of the world that had already been affected. This led to frequently changing protocols in response to developing understanding and evidence. Katie Loggins, RN, MSN, CNS, Dominican nurse and COVID-19 Unit leader, described this feeling of uncertainty early on, “We are walking into something very scary and we don’t have a clue what it is.” However despite a fear of the unknown, we found the courage to persevere.
Collaboration has been the name of the game. We saw immediate and sustained coordination of physician specialists from infectious diseases, pulmonary, intensive care, and hospitalists. Nurses worked countless hours of overtime and picked up extra shifts to support their patients and their coworkers. Respiratory therapists worked 24/7 to support patients struggling for breath. The dedication of physical, occupational, and speech therapists helping patients regain function was
–Katie Loggins, RN, COVID-19 Unit
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Collaboration across the full-spectrum of care to fight the COVID-19 pandemic included nurses, therapists, physicians, and more. From left to right: Corinne Niven, RN, Susie Wong-Okamoto, OT, Marsha Moreno, MSN, RN, Ellen Santora, PT, David Wingo, RN, and Monina Houchen, RN.
inspiring. Also, the critical role of environmental services ensured a clean workplace for patient and staff safety. Never before has the importance of collaboration, communication, and teamwork been so clear. As fellow COVID-19 Unit nurse Heather Frerichs, RN, says, “We are all so proud of everybody who has worked together—and come together—to care for these patients over the last year.”
Dr. Singh describes the patients she cared for over the past year as, “some of the sickest patients we’ve seen. We have seen patients young and old become gravely ill. While some made significant and at times miraculous recoveries, others have succumbed to the virus.”
One significant resource to providing life-saving care is the Extracorporeal Life Support (ECLS). ECLS is a portable heart and lung bypass machine, which can support a patient experiencing severe COVID-19 symptoms who is no longer responding to ventilator support. Dominican is the only hospital within the Monterey Bay with this technology. As such, we were able to help critically ill patients being transferred from neighboring counties.
In addition to the physical demands of COVID-19, the mental and emotional recovery has presented its own set of unique challenges. The most profound example is the nationwide no-visitor policies in
– Maria Villalta, RN, COVID-19 unit
hospitals. During the long months the pandemic, all inpatients were not able to have the kind of family support that historically is offered and encouraged. Because of the severe nature of illness we have encountered over the past year, Dominican has provided mobile visitor carts that included an iPad on wheels that would allow for video chat.
Family plays such an important role in recovery, as illustrated by Edgar Cardenas, a 37-year-old, grateful patient and father of two. “Talking to my family by video call gave me energy and helped me a lot.” Edgar who sustained severe symptoms from COVID-19 required ECLS. Edgar was just one of many patients that benefited from the video connection with family facilitated by the iPad carts. Maria Villalta, RN, COVID-19 unit, described assisting patients in connecting with their families. She provided this critical role as, “An extension of their family.” She— and many others—continued to stay after a shift to simply hold someone’s hand and let them know they aren’t alone. “You can tell all [the family wants] to do is hold their hand,” Maria went on to say, “Well, that’s what I’m going to do.”
There is much to be optimistic about, as we continue to fight the pandemic—and Dr. Singh reminds us to, “Stay vigilant. It takes a community effort.” While our grateful patient and COVID-19 survivor Edgar says, “This is real. I took all precautions at home, my wife did all the shopping, and at work, even with strict masking and weekly testing. Take care of yourself and your family because this is really bad.”
For more information about COVID-19 in our community,
please reference: santacruzhealth.org/ HSAHome/HSADivisions/PublicHealth/ CommunicableDiseaseControl/ CoronavirusHome.aspx Edgar Cardenas, with a 22-year career in construction, is on the road to recovery after 38 days in the hospital, and with a goal of returning back to work. He is grateful for each individual who was part of his care, and especially his Acute Rehabilitation Unit (ARU) therapy team. Top: Edgar and Sally Andrews, PT, NCS. Bottom: Edgar during rehabilitation, working on rebuilding muscle strength and endurance. Prehospitalization, Edgar was able to hold a 100+ pound dry-wall sheets over his head.
