HJNO Nov/Dec 2020

Q&A 20 NOV / DEC 2020 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS   community who has supported and upheld our heroic staff from the earliest, scariest days of the pandemic. We benefited from the gen- erosity of local churches, businesses, restau- rants, elected officials, physicians, dentists, charities, neighbors, families and friends. They shared PPE, food, sewing skills, care and concern. Truly, their homegrown gen- erosity touched our hearts. Beyond the immediate public health crisis of COVID, we thank our local city and par- ish government leaders for always support- ing our health system. The local mayors and councils, parish president and council, all stay connected with us as we work together to improve the health and lives of people liv- ing in our community. These and other local civic leaders are partnering with us and Och- sner in our new Stronger Together Advisory Council, dedicated to achieving measurable improvement in the health of our Northshore population. What challenges do you see in healthcare as we eventually move forward from COVID-19? Quite honestly, the challenges COVID brings aremultifaceted: diseasemanagement, economic recovery and long-term popula- tion health. The obvious issues of infection prevention and containing the spread will continue to challenge our health industry as well as municipalities, businesses and institutions everywhere.As a society, we will need to con- tinue managing this disease and its impact. The more nuanced issue of economic recovery is one that brings anxiety to board rooms, living rooms and hospital rooms nationwide. From our own balance sheet to our community’s financial health, to that of our state, our nation and even the global economy, we know economic recovery will not be swift, simple or easy. Absent federal relief, we will have to tighten down to be able to reinvest in our people and services, to honor our promise of world-class health- care close to home. There’s one more challenge we think will have far-reaching impact for many years, and that is people not seeking care. You can see this anecdotally in talking with health sys- tems statewide, and we have seen volume dropping in primary, urgent and emergency care settings. Becker’s recently reported that fully 36 percent of Louisiana’s population isn’t seeking needed care, according to their own research. We need to earn the public’s trust to know that we are their safest, highest- quality source for ongoing healthcare, and COVID won’t change that. Are there any other specialties or accomplishments of STHS that you feel bear mentioning? One program that is often overlooked is our exceptional performance in spine and neurosurgery. Many would not imagine a suburban, midsize acute care organization like ours would be one of the top 100 spine and neuro programs in the country. We place special emphasis on the entire continuumof care for our patients and believe that coupled with our Ochsner partnership trulymakes the difference for excellent patient outcomes. A surgeon doing day surgery at a limited-use facility or a physical therapist doing rehabili- tation in a storefront will serve some cases ably, but for so many of our local residents, the safest, highest-quality pathway for neu- rology, neurosurgery, back and spine care is the comprehensive start-to-finish pathway we offer in our health system. From hand therapy and dry needling to pain management and rehabilitation, we cover the entire spectrum of musculoskel- etal health and wellness, often resolving brain, back and spine issues without surgi- cal intervention. But when surgery is war- ranted, St. Tammany Health System has the highest quality, safest and nationally recog- nized pathway to wellness. Why would any- one go anywhere else? n