January 05, 2021
Hi Team –
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and you’re feeling rested, recharged and ready to take on 2021 with renewed hope and faith that we will prevail in our fight to end the COVID pandemic! Before we jump into this Weekly Update, I’d like to give a special shout out to our thousands of frontline and support team members and physicians who sacrificed some or all of their holidays to be there for our patients and their fellow team members. In rounding at our facilities over the past few weeks, I witnessed first-hand our Healthcare Heroes in action as they cared for our patients AND stepped up to be role models in receiving the first doses of the lifesaving—and pandemic ending—COVID vaccine! Please join me in thanking these team members and physicians for working to deliver the safest, highest-quality care through the holiday season—all in the midst of this global pandemic.
COVID Update
The COVID pandemic continues to take center stage, both regionally and nationally, though there are encouraging signs to be cautiously optimistic as we see continued flattening in the rate of growth in COVID hospitalizations at TriHealth and throughout the region (shown in the sidebar on the right). And, we continue to successfully manage the current COVID case load in our hospitals but remain ever ready to respond should we experience a post-holiday spike in new COVID cases. The recent arrival of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines coupled with expanded use of the monoclonal antibody therapies will likely continue to flatten the curve and over time WILL bring about an end to this pandemic.
Why Receive the COVID Vaccine?
The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have undergone rigorous clinical trials and FDA review, and have been found to be both safe and effective. Receiving the vaccine is not only the right thing to do to protect ourselves, one another and our community, but it is the only way to end the COVID pandemic. There is simply no other way to safely achieve herd immunity and end this crisis, allowing us to return to some level of normalcy and the lives we all enjoyed just ten months ago. It also supports TriHealth longstanding mission of leading in ways that improve the health of our community and serving our most vulnerable populations.
As a powerful statement of the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, all of TriHealth’s Infectious Disease and Critical Care physicians have received—or plan to receive—the vaccine along with more than 95% of our hospitalists. And Dr. Janee Bey, System Chief for Hospital Medicine, shared with me last week that she too has put a lot of thought into her decision to receive the COVID vaccine and she understands the decision “may be a scary one for you.” Click here to read what ultimately helped her make this important decision and why she’s urging all of us to do the same. I personally plan to receive the vaccine as will other members of the senior leadership team once TriHealth’s most at-risk frontline workers have had the opportunity to first receive the vaccine. And, like Dr. Bey, I believe the immediate benefits of the vaccine—lives saved, suffering ended, return to normal, a healthcare industry no longer under siege, etc. — far outweigh any unseen and theoretical risks. Side effects are similar to the flu shot (very mild), and no serious adverse side effects directly related to the vaccine have been reported. More detailed vaccine data is available on our own Vaccine Resource page, including many helpful educational videos produced by our very own nursing team, and at CDC.gov to help you make this important decision.
TriHealth Vaccine Plan Update
TriHealth received its first shipment of 3,700 doses of the Moderna COVID vaccine during the week of December 21. Since then we have received two additional shipments for a total of 5,900 doses—or enough to vaccinate about 40% of our workforce—and all of the vaccine has been administered to our physicians and team members in a matter of just hours and days. A special shout out to our Vaccination Task Force and Employee Health Team for putting in place the staffing and facilities to administer up to 1,000 doses per day at our three sites—Bethesda North, Good Sam and McCullough-Hyde. And we have done this for one simple reason—to ensure that the only limiting factor in being vaccinated is availability of the vaccine itself, not our ability to administer it in a timely way!
So as of today, all TriHealth team members and physicians have received the vaccination survey from our CMO, Dr. Kevin Joseph. And now that the most at-risk team members and physicians have been given first priority to be vaccinated, we have extended the opportunity to schedule a vaccine appointment to ALL team members and physicians in order to vaccinate as many of our healthcare workers as quickly as possible. To date, we have vaccinated a little more than 40% of our workforce. However, only 50% of those receiving the survey have responded thus far; and of those responding, only 70% expressed plans to receive the vaccine. So, we have work to do!!!
Governor DeWine’s Plea to the Healthcare Industry to Move Faster
Last week, I was asked to participate in a special Zoom meeting with Governor DeWine and other Ohio health system leaders. In the meeting, the Governor shared his concern and even disappointment that the healthcare industry has been slow and inconsistent in rolling out the vaccine to Ohio’s healthcare workers. While this may be the case for other health systems across the state, nothing could be further from the truth here at TriHealth! We have created the ability to administer the vaccine seven days a week and are administering ALL doses within days of receiving our weekly allotment. The Governor also expressed concern that healthcare workers are not signing up to receive the vaccine in the numbers expected to ensure that our healthcare workers are protected and “there” for the community and those in need. Our pledge is simple—we will administer the vaccine as fast as we receive it and we will continue to educate our team members and physicians about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine! Thank you to those who have received the vaccine, and to those who have not, please consider getting it for yourself, your patients and our community!
Thank you, as always, for your commitment and dedication to serve our patients, our community and each other throughout this very challenging year. Better and brighter days are ahead as we turn the page on 2020, and I look forward to ending this pandemic as we continue our work to get healthcare right for the community we serve!
Wishing you and your family a joyful and blessed New Year in 2021!
Are we still planning on trying to get family members of team members vaccinated ASAP?
Posted by: Megan Mcclellan on January 06, 2021
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THANK YOU!!! for helping us to get the vaccine so quickly
Posted by: Dawn Rupp on January 06, 2021
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When will and how will Trihealth start giving the vaccine to the public and will it be available in your doctors office?
Posted by: Esther Conner on January 06, 2021
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