Hi Team –

 

Now nearly a month into Russia’s unprovoked invasion of the sovereign nation Ukraine, we continue to witness horrible acts of violence against the Ukrainian people. Thousands of lives have been lost, including hundreds of innocent children, as a result of this unnecessary and senseless aggression. Homes, roads and even hospitals have been destroyed. And millions of Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes for safety from Russian attacks. As a faith-based organization with a nearly 170-year legacy of service to the poor and marginalized, TriHealth stands in solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. Many have asked how we, as the region’s leading integrated health system, can lend support to the people of Ukraine. So, we have partnered with the Cincinnati chapter of the American Red Cross to support humanitarian aid efforts in Ukraine. Working through the International Red Cross and the Ukrainian Red Cross, all donations through our custom TriHealth giving portal will go directly to humanitarian relief in providing food, supplies and resources to the people of Ukraine. If you would like to join TriHealth in helping, you can donate by simply clicking this link to our Red Cross donation site. 

 

For the first time since last July, we now have fewer than 20 COVID inpatients in TriHealth hospitals! Consider that just six weeks ago, our COVID inpatient census was at 170 and we can all agree this is a welcome development that is providing much-deserved relief to our team members and frontline caregivers. The rapid decline in new COVID cases has allowed us to ease many of our COVID safety restrictions as well as our surge and capacity management initiatives such as crisis staffing. And it has enabled us to resume all clinical services at full capacity, including many elective procedures which had been deferred earlier this year due to surging new COVID cases and hospitalizations. While we remain hopeful that we’ve seen the worst of this pandemic, we are monitoring COVID transmission and the possible development of new variants in other countries like China where COVID continues to surge. 

 

As we begin our return to a post-pandemic “new normal” following more than two difficult years of battling wave after wave of COVID infections, it would be a mistake to believe that this experience has not changed us and taken a toll on all of us emotionally, mentally and even physically.

 

While most of us can quickly bounce back from short-term or acute encounters of stress, the challenge of dealing with longer-term chronic stress – and in some cases trauma – can be far more difficult. Experts advise us that in order to move beyond COVID, we should talk about and acknowledge our experiences by engaging in open and safe conversations about how this prolonged public health crisis has affected our individual and collective well-being. Early on in this pandemic, we recognized that this work would be a necessary part of our recovery and healing. And today, we find ourselves in a unique phase of the pandemic that requires us to again take proactive and intentional steps to healing and renewing ourselves, our organization and our culture.

 

This next and hopefully final phase of our COVID journey is about pausing to take the time we need to catch our breath after two long years of chronic stress and to support one another as we have each and every day throughout COVID. It is about reflecting on the ways this pandemic has impacted our lives and our families, how we bring ourselves to work, and what each of us can do to rekindle our passion for service and delivering the very best and safest care to our patients and community. It is about decompressing, taking time off, and continuing the process of healing, renewing and recharging physically, emotionally and mentally.

 

Perhaps most importantly, this next phase of our COVID recovery is about listening to and connecting with our team members and physicians. So, we have organized a “Listening Tour” that will launch shortly throughout the system, and we have also asked our leaders to focus more on “relationship rounding” in the coming months. The goal of relationship rounding is to engage in authentic and needed conversations with each other about our well-being, our emotions, where we are “in the moment” and how we can best move beyond COVID together.

 

Today, we kick off the first of nearly 30 Well-being Listening Sessions across our hospitals and ambulatory campuses. These small group sessions will have full representation of team members across all shifts, departments and business units. They are designed to foster open and honest conversation and garner feedback on ways in which we can further support team members and providers as we emerge from two long years of COVID. If you would like to participate in one of these listening sessions, please speak with your leader to inform her or him of your interest or email lifestyles@trihealth.com. Informed by these conversations, our team of experts will work with system and local leaders to develop department and site-specific work plans to address identified needs and priorities.

 

Last week, we kicked off our two-week Engagement Pulse Survey and nearly 50% of our team members and physicians have already participated. This brief survey can be completed in less than five minutes and is another opportunity for you to tell us how we are doing, where we’ve improved and where we need to continue our efforts – all aimed at making TriHealth a great place to work and practice. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to take a few minutes to complete the survey before it closes this Friday, March 25. Visit Bridge for information or check your email from our survey vendor, Perceptyx, which includes a personalized link to this brief, confidential survey. I look forward to sharing with you a summary of the Pulse Survey along with insights and key takeaways next month. 

 

Thanks to all of the nearly 110 team members who tapped into their creative side and submitted their design for our 2022 Healthcare Heroes t-shirt. We’ve narrowed down the top designs and now we need your help to pick the winner! Click here to view the finalists and vote for your favorite by March 31. We will unveil the winning design on Tuesday, May 10, at noon as part of our special Healthcare Heroes Week Town Hall. Soon after you will be able to order your very own super soft and comfortable t-shirt to proudly wear at work and in the community!

 

There is renewed hope and opportunity in the days ahead, as we return to longer, sunnier days, warmer weather, and experience a continued decline of COVID cases in our community. At the same time, we face one last COVID challenge tied to our ability to recover and move forward in a “post-pandemic” world, as we renew our passion for healthcare and return our focus to the work of Getting Healthcare Right. And we will address this latest and hopefully final challenge – recovering from the emotional toll of COVID, renewing ourselves and re-engaging with our foundational TriHealth Way – in the same way we have faced and overcome every previous pandemic hardship. We will come together – One Team, TriHealth Strong – by listening, talking and supporting one another as we chart our own successful path forward in a post-pandemic world, all in service to our patients and community!