Page 7 - KMAland Healthcare Heroes

KMAland 2021 A Salute to KMAland Healthcare Heroes 7

n a year filled with mystery There were many patients who to the many challenges that
and uncertainty, the Surgical had symptoms of illness and put required them to be flexible and
IDepartment at Montgomery off going to the doctor and ignored willing to venture into another area
County Memorial Hospital pain because of the fear of getting to help.
stepped up to fill in throughout COVID-19 at the hospital or visit- Russ Reynolds,
the hospital. All of our staff mem- ing the doctor’s office. Therefore, MCMH Environmental
bers crossed trained to different there was a waiting list of patients Services Manager
areas in the hospital fulfilling the needing surgery and that added to
needs of all different departments. the uncertainty of knowing wheth- Thursday, March 12, 2020.
There was juggling of schedules er to keep staff at work, or sending s the Environmental
and changes in the roles we played. the nurses home. These cases were Services Manager this day
Team work and collaboration to determined by the Surgeon or the Astands out for me as the
help provide quality patient safety primary provider at how soon that beginning of the COVID-19 pan-
and outcomes were exhibited by the patients would need surgery for demic at MCMH. On this day
all staff members. It was the whole their safe outcomes. I instructed my Environmental
team who stepped up. We have a There were different phases that Services (ES) staff to organize
great group of nurses who want the were initiated for us to get back cleaning cloths, one-gallon jugs of
best care to be delivered no matter into doing elective surgeries. We pre mixed disinfectant, we labeled
where they were asked to work. were able to start same-day surgery and filled spray bottles and orga-
A huge hurdle that was in front procedures the end of April 2020 nized a system to provide other
of us during the season of COVID- and then later in May, our elective departments with additional clean-
19, was the ability to determine surgery procedures started ramp- ing supplies. Our Director of
the patients who really needed to ing back up. Our staff has risen Nursing sent out an e-mail outlin-
have surgery and those who could to the challenges that have been ing mandatory cleaning every four
wait. Several cases were canceled required of them due to hours. This was just the begin-
and rearranged. There were the COVID-19 pan- ning of a year long journey
many patients who went demic. They that I had never expected to
through rigor- remain take.
th
ous testing. able March 26 , 2020 was another
notable day. On this day, I was
informed that an employee
had returned to work and
tested positive for COVID.
This would be the first time
we disinfected a COVID-19
contaminated area and I was
asked if we could safely sani-
tize the area. As I expected
and without hesitation, two of