It’s been quite a week. I want to take a moment to thank everyone for doing such good work preparing us for COVID-19. As you know, there are still relatively few cases in NYC, and the vast majority of people who contract the virus do not require hospitalization and can recover at home.  

Even so, we have many coordinated and interdisciplinary teams keeping us calm, focused, and ready for anything that may come our way.

First and foremost, our infection prevention team has been front and center in both the clinical response and educating our MSBI community. They’ve been all over the Downtown campus this week, offering support to our people, but also coordinating a cohesive response with city and government agencies. They’ve provided comprehensive and compassionate support with humor and grace. We are in great hands.

Our security, concierge, registrars, and other teams are doing a great job of welcoming patients while ensuring we understand their symptoms and history. When needed, we are isolating patients until we can rule out a COVID-19 infection. This is happening not only at the hospital but at our ambulatory sites as well. In addition, our call centers know to ask screening questions so they can guide patients who may be at risk to the appropriate care.

Our ED, urgent care, and other ambulatory teams have been alleviating the fears of their patients while educating them and caring for them.

Our materials management teams have been keeping inventory levels up and making sure we are ready to go with personal protective equipment, hand sanitizer, and many other supplies needed to keep us and our patients safe.

Our clinical and administrative leaders have been meeting several times a day as part of our incident management team to assess any new situations that arise from COVID-19.  We have daily safety huddles throughout the Downtown network that allow us to stay connected during complex times. Along with system leads, emergency management, infection prevention experts, they have been putting a lot of thought into the screening and testing processes we now have place at MSBI and throughout Downtown.

They are also thinking ahead to see how we can support you better. I hope many of you made it to one of our town halls this week. If not, we will have more in the coming weeks; we want to hear your questions and will share more as we learn more.

Thank you all for your courage and compassion throughout this situation.

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