MDNews - Central New York

purchase a big shipment of N95 masks," Dr. Thomas says. "Initially, they asked, 'Why are we doing this?'" Suits, Dr. Thomas and their colleagues pointed out that when the Ebola virus outbreak took place in West Africa, equip- ment was difficult to obtain worldwide because only a limited number of sources make medical-grade protective gear. If the coronavirus reached the U.S., it would be problematic. Obta ining ma sks represented just one aspect of the preparedness Upstate demonstrated in the early days. Robert Corona, DO, MBA, Chief Executive Officer of Upstate University Hospita l, knew that Upstate, and the entire Central New York region, could soon be facing some serious needs. W hen approached by Chris Dunham, Director of Emergency Ma nagement at Upstate, Dr. Corona activated the Incident Command struc- ture, which sta nds ready to respond to crises. "Even before executive orders or rec- ommendations were issued, we had a team of more than 70 people discussing our response to COVID-19," Dr. Corona says. "This is the longest-serving Incident Command we have had." Forma lly convening in mid-March, Incident Command met twice daily, dis- cussing needs that included rescheduling elective procedures, freeing hospital beds for potential COVID-19 patients, cleaning and decontaminating, and testing and communicating with the wider com- munity. The meetings were held twice daily — weekends included — with more than 100 people on the Zoom calls to hear and act on the reports. Everyone wanted to play a part and learn as much as they could Nursing Heroism IF SCIENCE GUIDED Upstate Medical University's COVID-19 response, nursing care made up the backbone of that response. Nurses managed patients, communicated with fami- lies, and continuously donned and doffed protective equipment. Even though their jobs became exponentially harder, nurses found the resilience to do difficult work and even to travel to Long Island in downstate New York to render assistance in hard-hit hospitals. Nancy Page, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Chief Nursing Officer at Upstate University Hospital, oversaw that effort. One of the most important parts of a nurse's role, before and especially during the pandemic, is teaching patients to advocate for themselves, she observes. Over and over, Page's staff helped empower patients to ask providers and family members questions, such as if they'd washed their hands, and in other ways become active participants in their own care. Observation skills also came into play. "Nurses don't diagnose, but we're experts in looking at the whole person," she says. "In COVID-19, nurses pioneered looking at people in the ICU and proning patients to improve their long-term function. Nurses and respiratory therapists were key to that intervention." Caring for patients with COVID-19 can be emotionally and physically stressful. Nurses at Upstate clinical locations that did not have dedicated COVID-19 units proposed a "job swap" with nurses at locations with COVID-19 wards, at University Hospital and Upstate Community Hospital. "A nurse could come into a non-COVID unit for two weeks and vice versa," Page says. "Numerous nurses took advantage both ways. Some wanted experience caring for people with COVID-19, while others were glad to have a short break." Volunteerism went far beyond the Central New York region, as Upstate's nurses traveled downstate to help their colleagues working in the most urgent of settings. The nurses traveled in three waves, along with a cadre of respiratory technicians. Each group served for a period of time at Stonybrook University Hospital on Long Island, a SUNY sister university to Upstate. In total, Page recalls, 46 nurses along with 11 other staff members traveled to help their colleagues get through the crisis. about how to keep patients safe. "Facing a pandemic was such a complex challenge, and every- body was interconnected in some way," Dr. Corona commented. "The structure we set in place a lso prov ided the necessa r y transition to our reopening, and now to full operations." I n e a rl y s pr i n g , Up s t a t e rapidly transitioned most out- patient visits in the majority of its 19 clinica l departments to telemedicine and continues to of fer the option for ma ny types of visits. When patients do not need to be physica l ly present, telemedicine provides a convenience and helps both patients and providers maintain social distance. " Te l e m e d i c i n e h a s b e e n something we have been ready- ing ourselves to do for years at scale, and the crisis showed that this was viable," Dr. Corona says. RESOURCES OF AN ACADEMIC MEDICAL CENTER From the start of the pandemic, Upstate took its position as an academic medical center seriously — caring for patients, pursuing research into COVID-19 and possible treatments, analyzing data, and advising the public about the crisis as it developed. In their public-facing role, Upstate leadership drew on data model- ing from its own public health experts to predict the spread of the pandemic. Drs. Corona and Thomas, as well as others, became a reliable "voice of the pandemic" for Central New York. Some of the communication resulted from information gathered about the Universit y Hospital staf f working with PPE M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S C E N T R A L N E W Y O R K ■ 2 0 2 0 0 7

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