MDNews - Central New York

that these goal-oriented teams convene for a focused period to rapidly meet emerging needs. The process is tied to the hospital's strategic pillars, with each member of the C-suite overseeing teams that relate to their areas. " With our Tiger Tea ms we a im to streamline operations and to nimbly adopt innovation so that we serve patients and our colleagues even more effectively," Dr. Tucker commented. "Today, as we have been all year, we are finely attuned and responsive to the needs of the community," Dr. Corona says. "We are committed to being a safe place for patients to come. And, we are commit- ted to being a supportive partner to the physicians who refer their patients to us. We want the community to know that we are open and safe." As Upstate breathes a sigh of relief and resumes visits and scheduled procedures at every location, Dr. Thomas also notes that the pa ndemic ha s enha nced the mutua l respect and solidarity between the academic medical center and Central New York 's community practices. It 's a dyna mic he hopes will flourish into the future. "Ever ybody who works in the medi- ca l environment stepped up to ensure hospitals had space to care for the sickest patients," he says. "For that to happen, we had to have a ll hands on deck. Primary care providers and community subspe- cialists knew they would see people who might have COVID-19. We had multiple meetings with our medica l community, a nd physicia ns told us, ' We signed up for this. We understand the risks. If you provide the PPE, the training and the means to take samples, we will see these people in our offices.' The community rea lly came together, and it went well." F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n , v i s i t upstate.edu/together. n A Response Undergirded by Science SCIENTISTS AND THE physicians at Upstate University Medical Center took every opportunity to learn about the pandemic and to use that knowl- edge to help protect the community. Among the projects is participation in the National COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Project, in which patients with COVID-19 receive blood plasma from survivors of the disease, and both groups are tracked. Tim Endy, MD, MPH, Professor and Chair of Microbiology and professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health was the lead on that project. Upstate's Institute for Global Health and Tr anslational Science worked with the Red Cross to get the project up and running." Under the direction of Matt Elkins, MD, PhD, Director of Hemapherisis, Director of Transfusion Medicine, Medical Director of Upstate Cord Blood Bank and Associate Professor of Pathology, Upstate created its own plasmapheresis unit in support of the Convalescent Plasma Project. More than 200 people volunteered and dozens have donated, with numerous patients benefitting from those plasma donations. Other trials investigated the effec- tiveness of medical treatments, while the most prominent current trial is examining the effectiveness of a new COVID-19 vaccination. In conjunction with Pfizer, Upstate started vaccinating volunteers the last week of July. "We've experienced an outpouring of interest," says Stephen Thomas, MD, Director of the Institute for Global Health and Translational Sciences and principal investigator. "The investigators are tightly focused on enrolling a diverse group of participants, ages 18–85, especially focusing on people at high risk for infection or of having a bad outcome from an infection." He added, "This is why we have an academic medical university, so we can bring together education and care with treatment of patients and research." + In-hall IV pumps and patient monitors allowed nurses to check the vital signs of patients with COVID-19 from outside patient rooms without having to don full protective gear. + Telemedicine expanded to include almost ever y ser vice line, allowing patients to visit providers online from the safety of their homes. Continuing medical education also moved online. + In post-COVID recover y groups, patients obtain the suppor t and specialized care they need. Physicians check in daily via telehealth visits, following patients until they are free of symptoms. A s providers are discover- ing, COVID-19 can cause chronic symptoms in some people and Upstate has exper tise across the areas patients need. Director of Transitional Care Diane Nanno, MS, CNS, RN, NE-BC, CCCTM, with the comfort care kit 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 9

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