“Is this your field hospital?”

“Is this your field hospital?”

This question is the reason I wear a tie to all our COVID testing events. I want people to know where they can direct complaints or concerns. I walked over to the gentleman who asked the question and steeled myself for “constructive feedback.”

It has been six months of almost exclusively COVID. Since mid-winter and my taking the role of Hospital Incident Command’s “Community Liaison,” the population health job has taken on a very specific focus as COVID has become the latest of the threats to the health for our community.

We started in early March by planning for hospital COVID testing and working with community health on food distribution after the schools closed and many of the children in the community lost access to several of their daily meals. By mid-month, a group of us from the two largest medical systems in our city met with the State Health Department and were directed to construct and operate a FEMA field hospital in the convention center.

Over the next month this private/city/state coalition set up a 250-bed hospital in 127,000 square feet of negative pressure exhibit hall space and began caring for COVID patients as the numbers peaked in April. Since then we have cared for more than 220 patients. It remains one of the State’s contingency hospitals, and perhaps the last convention center field hospital in the country that is still operating.

The hospital staff came from all over the state and all over the nation – from a host of different backgrounds and skill sets. Many of the patient aides and registration staff had never been involved with patient care before. But all were driven by the desire to make a difference during a national emergency and were willing to put themselves and their families at risk. 

By mid-June we added large scale, population COVID testing to our capability and in late August we went over 20,000 tested. The team has contributed to a decrease in our state test positivity rate from 12% in early June to 3.4% by Labor Day; providing testing across the city and state. It allows us to provide an additional public health focus to our collective portfolio; not just caring for patients with COVID but also finding them, and instructing them on isolation so that we can slow or prevent the spread of the disease.

The experience has been a case study in leadership and the collaboration of a public private partnership between state and municipal governments, non-profits, payers, industry as well as two medical centers and systems that were not known for their collaboration prior to the pandemic. It has been an exercise in knowing when to speak and when to keep silent (not a personal strength) as the pace of operations and social distancing moved us from in-person scheduled meetings past email to almost exclusive text messaging and quick phone calls. It’s required new relationships. My closest colleagues over this time have been men and women I didn’t know or know well before March.

But the greatest joy has been this field hospital team, the men and women who gathered around the vision of serving this community. They are providers and nurses of course but also community members, college and graduate students, financiers, and therapists representing a range of backgrounds and experience. They work in our field hospital and our many testing sites. Some also work at the triage, respite and isolation center for COVID patients who have unstable housing or are from congregate settings established at a converted hotel a few blocks away.

It turned out that the man who asked me the question at the testing site that afternoon wanted to tell me how impressed he was with the team. Almost everyone who stops me or emails me says the same thing. These men and women are patient focused, efficient, professional, engaging, and courteous; from the health care providers to the security personnel on site. I have a whole file of compliments and positive comments that I share with them as often as I am able. 

And so to the question: “Is this my field hospital?”  

I answered “Yes.” It is mine – but not by ownership. It is mine by affiliation and shared identity. This diverse team represents the best we can be as a nation; the best our country might have been if we had developed a common approach from the beginning of this crisis. And as a team, they exemplify the best we could yet be with a singular, unified vision.

The field hospital’s motto came from the shared experience of the retired and former military members who are a part of this effort.

It is an affirmation and a prayer as we head into these next months with the understanding that we will have many hurdles to face regardless of what happens in November:

We are “One team” with “One fight.”

If only we could all see ourselves that way. 

Chuck Callahan Henry V 4.3 – Lead from the Front   https://henryv43.com/