Methodist Hospital | Stone Oak Hosts Texas Freeze Coin Ceremony to EMS

“The clinic showed how much Methodist Healthcare will do to support employees,” said Angela Crawford, MSN, RN, CCRN, Operations Lead at the clinic. “They stepped up to ensure that employees were safe.” As the impact of the Omicron variant surge lessens, the team will continue to evaluate testing needs of the organization. “We have a great process and a great team in place,” said Emily. Special thanks to the following for getting the Employee Health Testing program up and running – EH COVID-19 Testing Team: Barry Burns, Natalie

Vasquez Smith, Emily Gerwels, Adrianna Hatch and her entire Employee Health team, Linda Rodriguez, Leslie Towner, Deborah Martinez, Golda Soret, Nancy Ohlenburger, Becca Howard, Jennifer Buske, and

Joseph McCarty. Thank you to individuals loaned from Methodist Healthcare hospitals and Division to get the Employee Health Testing site up and running: Miriam Pendon, Caitlyn Broyles, Carolina Rodrigues, Ben Castruita, Amanda Villareal, Lisa Lanham, Stacy Pleger, Lina Beltran, Jessica Vitela Brenda Mancilla, Sonya Hernandez, and Ruby Arredondo.

Nearly a year after the historic Texas freeze, Methodist Hospital | Stone Oak recognized their EMS agencies with a challenge coin ceremony for their outstanding work in transferring 70 patients to other Methodist Hospitals across the city. Challenge coins trace back to the Roman Army where coins were given to those who participated in a significant battle or event. Today U.S. military and fire/EMS personnel continue this tradition in the event of deployment or significant disaster event the group has experienced together. Methodist Hospital | Stone Oak CEO,Jeff Wilson, participated in the coin ceremony as he was part of the team receiving patients from Stone Oak at Methodist Hospital Specialty and Transplant, where at the time was CEO. The emergency transfer resulted after rolling power outages affected the San Antonio Water System, causing unplanned total water and boiler loss. “This group of responders was important to us to recognize. Many departments had stopped operations due to unsafe conditions. These crews continued to help safely move patients without taking breaks until the job was done,” said Methodist Hospital | Stone Oak EMS Liaison,Brandon Miller. While there have been a few challenge coin ceremonies in the past, this is the first specific to an event like the Texas winter storm.