May 26, 2020
Hi Team –
I hope you enjoyed a relaxing and restful Memorial Day holiday and were able to unplug and have some “socially distanced” fun with loved ones. With many taking some well-deserved time off this week, and as we resume some level of normalcy, we’ve decided to “lighten things up” for the remainder of the week. To do so, we will not hold the Town Hall on May 27th and this Weekly Update will be intentionally brief. We hope this will allow you to continue to recharge and refresh, so we can all return next week energized and ready to tackle the next challenging phase of our back to business journey, amidst the ongoing health and economic threat of COVID-19.
Phase I Back to Business transition shows steady progress. Now almost four weeks into our safely staged reopening plans, we’re seeing continued encouraging signs we’re headed in the right direction. Patients are scheduling procedures and we’re experiencing a gradual increase in clinical volumes as we make more capacity available each week. Due to pent-up demand for necessary delayed care, we expect to see a short-term, and probably temporary, surge in clinical volume. We will be carefully watching this trend to better understand whether, and to what degree, patients are truly feeling safe and ready to come back for all types of care. Time will tell, and we’ll continue to hope for the best, but prepare for the “worst” or at least “expected” case – as we did with planning for the COVID-19 surge – to ensure we remain strong and stable during the very uncertain journey ahead.
We also remain cautiously optimistic about the fact that new COVID-19 cases have remained flat as our community has begun to get back to work and back to life. Even with the recent gradual increase in everyday activity, the reproductive coefficient of the virus has stayed below 1. And our testing of patients scheduled for surgery and other procedures has shown less than a .05% prevalence of COVID-19 in the community. This is encouraging evidence that our mitigation efforts – including social distancing, required masks, temperature checks, testing and contact tracing – are working. It also affirms these practices must continue to allow us to safely and confidently advance to the next phases of reopening the economy and society.
Well Done, Team – You’re Remarkable! I remain deeply grateful for, and inspired by, the extraordinary dedication and courage shown by our remarkable team of doctors, nurses, clinical and support staff! Together, we have faced an unprecedented global public health crisis head on that just a few short months ago would have seemed truly unimaginable! And through it all, we never lost sight of who we are and why we do what we do! With resilience, adaptability, and an unwavering commitment to our mission of service, we have kept the health and wellbeing of our patients our #1 priority throughout this pandemic. Because of this, I know that, regardless of what’s required of us in the post-surge “new norm,” we will prevail, and our ever-growing Cincinnati patient community will continue to rely on us to get healthcare right for many decades to come. TriHealth Strong – One Team. One Sacred Mission. One Great Health System.
Weekly COVID-19 Communications Calendar
- Tuesday, May 26: CEO Weekly Update
- Wednesday, May 27 & Friday, May 29: Dr. Joseph video updates available on Bridge
- Friday, May 29 – Weekly COVID Update email
Posted by: Team Member on June 04, 2020
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