HJNO Nov/Dec 2020

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  NOV / DEC 2020 17 compassion and teamwork. When I returned home to join the team at St. Tammany Health System in 2018, the thought of facing a global pandemic never even crossed my mind. I quickly learned of our system’s focus and commitment to qual- ity, safety, service and emergency prepared- ness. Shortly after my arrival, STHS held a drill preparing our colleagues for an outbreak of infectious disease. I was impressed with the diligence of our teams participating in the exercise and sharing the lessons learned and opportunities for improvement. Ringing in 2020, we began to hear about a new coronavirus spreading in other parts of the world with the first confirmed U.S. case in Washington state. After Mardi Gras, we fol- lowed procedures to heighten awareness of the newly named COVID-19. We conducted a blind drill at one of our primary care clinics. The teampassed with flying colors, and thus began our escalation of modified operations to address the likelihood of future outbreaks. We erected tents to triage patients out- side our emergency departments; our plant operations crews converted patient rooms to increase our negative pressure, isolation and critical care capacity. Our clinical teams began to plan for the long haul, adjusting staffing to make the smartest use of all our resources. Our first positive patient was confirmed by the state on March 13, and what rolled from there was nothing short of heroic. Frombrave environmental services professionals armed with new technology and the tried and true chemicals we know and trust, to the pulmon- ologists, respiratory therapists, nurses, techs and assistants on the COVID units, everyone stepped forward and gave of themselves. We are in amodified responsemode these days, as our infectious disease and lung spe- cialists along with their counterparts world- wide know somuchmore about this disease today than sixmonths ago. But the fight con- tinues, the danger is real, andwe all must con- tinue to do all we can to slow the spread. St. Tammany Health System has earned its reputation for truly innovative, compas- sionate healthcare. Our surgical robotics and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) capabilities coupled with our home- town approach to patient care draws com- mitted patients from a broad spectrum. And finally, our health system’s partnership withOchsner Health has helped improve our community’s overall health and quality of life, today and for the future. Together, we repre- sent themost complete systemof care, align- ing west St. Tammany’s top two independent health leaders in lockstep with the common goals of reducing costs, improving access and expanding specialty care. The Ochsner Hospital for Children at St. Tammany Health System is one example of our ongoing col- laboration as themost comprehensive health system for children on the Northshore. What does it mean to be a Certified Autism Center (CAC)? That designation from the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Edu- cation Standards gives local families confi- dence to entrust their autistic loved ones’care to us. The certification shows that physicians and staff in our pediatric unit and pediatric emergency department completed autism- specific training to improve patient outcomes and experiences. Through this process, our team learned how to interact with our autistic patients from the time we enter their care space. Everything we do and how we do it shows our patients we can be trusted and that we are there to help. This is vitally important for autis- tic patients, because they experience inter- personal interactions differently, and we’re grateful to IBCCES for instilling these skills in our team. How is STHS uniquely handling COVID-19 and its rise and fall in the communities? Without question—with innovation, What inspired you to get into health- care, and what attracted you to St. Tammany Health System? Those who serve in healthcare frequently feel called to serve. My daddy was an entre- preneur and small family business owner, and my mother was a nurse at a local medi- cal practice. I often visited her and became very intrigued by the physicians, clinicians and support staff working together to care for patients and collaborating with local busi- ness leaders to improve the overall health and quality of life for area residents. My healthcare career has really come full circle. I beganmy career at St. Tammany Par- ish Hospital as a radiologic technologist and through the years transitioned intomanage- ment and led hospitals inWisconsin and Illi- nois before coming home in 2018 to lead this amazing team. Inmy role here, I have found the perpetual change that is the nature of healthcare to be both challenging and rewarding. Our patients look to us to lead innovations in healthcare and provide high quality services--every patient, every touch, every time. That tome is a pretty profound responsibility and one I am grateful to be a part of and live out each day. Being uniquely located between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, please describe to us where patients to your system come from. In so many ways, the Northshore really is its own region. As the service district for western St. Tammany Parish, we have cre- ated a destination center of excellence that patients choose from a broad radius that encompasses St. Tammany, Washington and Tangipahoa parishes, along with the west- ern Florida Parishes, the south shore and Mississippi. As the most established robotics institute regionally, a top-100 hospital nationally for spine and neurosurgery, as well as a “Best” hospital nationally for overall medical care,