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Update: April 21, 2020

Updated 10:50 a.m., 4/21/2020

  • Today is Tuesday, April 21, 2020.
  • It’s National Medical Laboratory Professional’s Week! Martha Cassasa and her team of intrepid testers are rockin’ it for North Oaks during the COVID-19 crisis and every day. Thank you for all you do!
  • State Stats: There are 24,523 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Louisiana across all 64 parishes, with 1,328 deaths. Yesterday there were 1,795 patients in the hospital, with 332 on vents. Rate of hospitalization and patients on vents continues to decrease.
  • The Governor announced yesterday that providers could restart some nonemergency procedures starting Monday, 4/27. The move applies to procedures that are time-sensitive; however, those that can be postponed without putting the patient at risk should continue to be delayed. Scheduling procedures will also depend on availability of COVID-19 testing kits and PPE, incidence of new COVID-19 cases, and includes some additional reporting requirements post procedure. Dr. Peltier will be leading a call with the medical staff today at 4 p.m. today to discuss the details. Note that this does NOT mean that clinics will be back to business as usual on Monday.
  • North Oaks Stats: We have 25 COVID-19 positive patients in-house today, 5 PUI, and 2 patients on vents (no intubations/extubations). Unfortunately we had one patient pass yesterday, but were able to successfully discharge an additional six (6) patients, bringing our total to 99. We anticipate our milestone 100th discharge today – stay tuned for more details!
  • Population health reports 69 calls, and 21 video visits. Operations in the drive-through testing station will resume today, with 30 patients scheduled and 21 in the queue.
    • CHANGE IN HOURS: Effective today, PACS hours of operation will be 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. 7 days/week, and the COVID-19 Line will be open 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. 7 days/week. We will reassess the need for weekend hours next week.
  • Employee Wellness: We currently have 23 employees monitoring at home, and were able to return 7 to work yesterday. Fit testing will be provided at North Oaks Rehabilitation Hospital at 5:30 p.m. today, and in the 5th Floor Tower Conference Room at 12:30. This is the last opportunity to be fit tested for the new N95 masks.
  • Infection Prevention asks that managers ensure the correct signage is posted regarding droplet-specific isolation. If you have any questions, please call Amanda.
  • Supplies continue to be sufficient. Michele explained that there are three tiers of supply availability: Conventional (business as usual); Contingency and Critical. We are currently flexing between Contingency and Critical levels, but have been able to protect our staff well (no major breakouts in specific areas of the facility.) Today we will receive an additional 10,000 isolation gowns today from LCMC. We continue to work the supply chain and alternative sources to ensure sufficient supplies are available. Note that we will likely move to blue isolation masks in the next day or two.
  • Clinics continue to see a decrease in walk-in clinic volume. ENT, Cardiology and Psychiatry will be trained on myChart virtual visits this week.
  • And thank you for all the kind feedback on these daily updates. This is the closest I’ll ever be to having a best-seller! ;)