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Update: April 8, 2020

Updated 10:39 a.m., 4/8/2020

  • Today is Wednesday, April 8th, 2020.
  • State Stats: As of noon yesterday, the state reports 16,284 cases of COVID-19 in 63/64 parishes, with 582 deaths. There are 1,996 people in the hospital, with 519 on vents (this is a 7.8% DROP from Monday – an encouraging sign.)
  • North Oaks Stats: We have 40 COVID-19 positive patients in house, and an additional 16 under investigation. Six patients are on vents (down from 9 yesterday.)
    • Yesterday we had 7 new admits who were COVID-19 positive or a person under investigation; we discharged 7 patients who have recovered from COVID-19, and extubated 5 patients. There were no COVID-19 related deaths yesterday.
  • There are 57 employees who are self-isolating, with 19 cleared to return to work yesterday. If you send an employee home ill, or if you become ill, please notify Employee Wellness at x. 5706. This is especially important if you have been tested outside the North Oaks network. Employees returning to work who were COVID-19 positive will be evaluated by the Return to Work clinic before returning to their unit; those whose tests were negative will be evaluated through Employee Wellness. At this point, everyone should be self-monitoring and taking their temperature twice a day.
  • Population health reports 86 calls to the COVID-19 screening line, with 25 video visits performed. We tested 85 people through the drive-through screening line, with another 30 scheduled as of this morning.
  • Amanda reminded staff that a list of aerosol-generating procedures is available in the COVID-19 toolkit. Please reference often.
  • We will be piloting MICU 2 today for 24 hours.
  • Non-patient care areas will be off Friday, April 10th in observance of Good Friday. PLEASE BE A SOCIAL DISTANCING ADVOCATE! Encourage friends and family to keep up the good work over Easter weekend and continue to social distance. Make the commitment to “be together next year.”
  • Supplies are adequate. Please be judicial in their use. Adhere to CDC guidelines and use the COVID-19 toolkit and Infection Prevention as resources. Remember that we are using a variety of sources for supplies, and colors may vary. We are taking great care to ensure that there is no variation in efficacy and that employees will be well protected before supplies are distributed.
  • EASTER HOURS: The Hammond Walk-in Clinic will be open Easter Sunday from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.
  • MODIFIED HOURS: Starting today, the Walker Walk-in Clinic will be closing early. Operating hours will be 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.
  • HOLIDAY/WEEKEND ENTRANCES: Employees are reminded that the Main Entrance (Signature Building) will be closed Good Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Please enter through the Tower Lobby (6 a.m. – 8 p.m.) or the Emergency
  • Due to an overwhelming response to the “Health Care Hero” yard signs, we have depleted the supply of 1,000. An order for additional signs is on its way, and we will inform you about distribution when they’re available.
    • Please snap a picture of you with your sign and share with us via email at social@northoaks.org. While we would like the photos to be of our individual heroes, please be sure to observe social distancing recommendations should you include others in your photos.
  • PTO buyback: A total of 321 employees took advantage of the PTO buyback opportunity with $480,474 of PTO sold back to NOHS. A glitch in the payroll system will not allow us to direct deposit funds for the PTO buyback in a non-payroll week for employees of NOHS, NOMC and NOPG. Therefore, paper checks for everyone except NORH employees will be distributed between 7 -10 a.m. Thursday morning (tomorrow, 4/9) in the Tower Lobby. NORH employees will have the funds direct deposited into their bank account.
  • Twisted Tomato Pizzeria of Ponchatoula is providing complimentary pasta meals TODAY for all day and night shift staff to express appreciation for our COVID-19 response as part of their “Feed the Fighters” initiative!
    • DAY SHIFT - LUNCH: Department pick-up for lunch will begin at 11:30 a.m. in the NOMC Cafeteria. Leadership has been asked to designate one to two staff members to come with a cart or carts to pick up boxed lunches and utensils to take back to your areas. Please practice safe social distancing! Distribution will be based on the staff counts that you previously gave Sherry Beall and Melanie Zaffuto.
    • NIGHT SHIFT - DINNER: Dinner will arrive for night shift between 8 and 8:30 p.m. and will be distributed from the Tower Lobby. Sherry and Melanie will be contacting leaders of areas with night shifts for assistance in the evening distribution plan from the Tower Lobby.

Weekly Vitals News: AHA Heart Walk Update

  • Before the current COVID-19 conditions, our organization was once again participating in the American Heart Association’s Northshore Heart Walk on Saturday, May 9, 2020. We thought it would be a great way to come together as a team and stay active, but now things have changed. Although the energy of attending a live Heart Walk is hard to beat… we’re going to try! While we’re disappointed the event can’t happen as we had originally planned, we’re excited to announce that the Heart Walk has moved to a virtual event! You’ll be able join your fellow teammates and connect with supporters from around the community through Facebook as we come together in support of the AHA mission – just like we would have done in person!
  • Wear your best Heart Walk gear, lace up your tennis shoes and get your walk on wherever you are virtually with us at 9am on May 9th! Hop on your treadmill, walk around your house or your neighborhood, move more and have fun – the choice is yours! Be sure to take a video or snap a photo along the way and share on the 2020 Northshore Heart Walk Facebook event page! Use #NSHeartWalk, tag us on Facebook at @AHANewOrleans and we may feature you on our social media pages.
  • I’ll be sending out more details about the virtual Heart Walk day as I get them. In the meantime, you can register to be a part of the virtual event at https://www2.heart.org/site/TR?fr_id=4890&pg=company&company_id=237185. Once you are there, click Join Team and follow the instructions to register. You can also go to the Northshore Heart Walk event page at https://www.facebook.com/events/s/2020-northshore-virtual-heart-/204335164205422/ and click “Going” to make sure you get updates on the event.