As I craft this update, the world has reached 1.5 million people with COVID-19 and more than 420,000 in the U.S. Of interest, nearly 80% of all cases worldwide are now in the U.S. and Europe. New York and New Jersey comprise half of the cases in the U.S. Indiana has 6,000 cases and the central Indiana region comprises just over half that number. Hancock County will surpass 100 cases today. The Governor of Indiana today replaced the emergency declaration with a disaster declaration, which may provide additional funding for the many organizations that have invested in COVID-related preparation activities (including, we believe, Hancock Health).
As mentioned yesterday, while the numbers continue to increase, there is also hope in them. The increase is predictable now and is hovering around 10% per day nationally (6% worldwide) with slight declines in the growth rate every few days. This gives us reason to believe that we will see the overall numbers stabilize in the next few weeks.
As we begin to look into the future, we believe that COVID-19 will be a part of our environment for quite some time (if not permanently). With this in mind, we are developing plans for re-opening our services when the data, and our governmental officials, give us the green light. When we do re-open, it will be a different world with different needs and it is likely that much of what we are learning now will provide the foundation for future operations.
We are not out of the woods yet. We do not expect the peak until late next week. But please know that we are thinking ahead to ensure our organization remains as strong in the future as we have been during this ongoing crisis.
- The Hancock Triage Clinic, Hancock COVID Triage hotline (317-325-2683 (COVD), and nurse@hancockregional.org email lines continue to provide needed service to the community during this time. We have now seen nearly 250 patients in the Triage Clinic and handled more than 1,000 calls on the triage phone line – kudos to all those who made this possible!
- Remember, the HPN offices remain open, they most of the visits are virtual (telephonic or vide-based), so if you need to see your doctor, please call their office.
- Work to retrofit the Reflections unit to our first COVID unit is complete. The second floor of the Gateway facility has been converted for use as a 50 bed expansion unit in case we need it (and we pray we do not).
- The end of in-person patient visitation has gone well and we have used the e-visitation system to great effect a few times. We have revised the policy in relation to deaths and births – please ask your department director for more details. Learn more on e-visitation at https://www.
hancockregionalhospital.org/ 2020/03/friends-or-family-in- the-hospital-e-visit/ - We are blessed to be finding new avenues to obtain additional PPE and for a very generous community as well who are finding and bringing in additional supplies. Should you have folks in the community who would like to donate to the cause, please have them contact Nancy Davis at ndavis@hancockregional.org.
- We have developed a temporary transportation team and a food delivery team to help our patients to receive food items and make it to their health care appointments since other transportation options are closing for a while. If you have patients that need transportation assistance, please contact Amanda Everidge at Aeveridge@hancockregional.org.
- For those associates that have the ability to take assignments in our personnel pools, please do so. We are beginning to have trouble filling all the needs and really need all hands to remain “on deck.”
- We have made arrangements with Fairfield Inn to house hospital associates and medical staff, as well as first-responders in the community, who need temporary housing if they are concerned about carrying the virus home with them. Our efforts are being coordinated by Gretchen Pike and Amanda Everidge and Hancock Health is covering the cost of these rooms and additional information. Please contact you department director for additional information.
- Do your best, prepare for the worst – then trust God for the victory – Proverbs 21:31
All the Best,
Steve
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