Dear WVMC Community Members,

An update and a letter of thanks.

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of planning, preparing, and trying not to panic or overreact, while also getting everyone on the same page. As an entire team, we have been working diligently to prepare for the worst while we hope for the best. While there may be one or two faces at the front of this preparation, there are actually many people who have helped in this endeavor that I want to personally thank.

Our infection control specialist, who started helping us monitor this situation back at the end of January, when we were planning for maybe one patient to come through our Emergency Department after traveling. Since then, she has been instrumental in helping plan many actions to continue to help keep the staff and patients as safe as possible, like ensuring staff have masks and eye protection.

Our plant operations team created ante rooms and isolation rooms in the course of just a day. They helped get our first tent set up and ultimately the big one we have now. The tent has heat and power thanks to our operations crew. A special thank you to Stoller Family Estate for the use of their tent. The tent will be used if we need to treat a large influx of patients. We can see patients and quickly send them home if they don’t need to be hospitalized.

Our housekeeping team, who are often unsung and unrecognized heroes when it comes to infection control. They have been great partners in this process and have been so willing to just say yes to helping with whatever needs to be done. The team is cleaning high touch surfaces every two hours.

Our disaster specialist has been coordinating many aspects of patient care and advocating for staff needs. Her goal is to help staff see how they can care for as many patients as possible should the need arise.

Our materials manager has been working non-stop to help us conserve the PPE that we do have. He is making calls to LifePoint Health and other agencies daily to make sure we are at the top of the list to receive emergency supplies.

The care team, including respiratory therapists, lab staff, radiology, CNA’s, techs, nurses, and providers who are doing a job that many in today’s world would be afraid to do. They come to work every day and take care of those who are sick in this period of uncertainty. We know many of them are scared or worried, and yet they still come. There has not been a health threat like this in our lifetime, but they are still figuring out how to stay safe and care for patients. We need them, so please take a minute to send them an email or a thank you. They are all true heroes.

The entire admitting staff and front-facing crew work diligently to try to reassure the community as we work to focus all of our attention on caring for patients affected by the virus. They join housekeeping in cleaning surfaces multiple times a day and are helping to screen staff and others entering the hospital through the lobby.

Here are a few more things to know:

• We are monitoring the situation at the government level daily, listening to calls and watching for next steps.
• We are working with the Yamhill County Public Health to see if there ways that they can help us and we can help them.
• Our physician adviser has partnered with many clinics, care homes and nursing homes in our community
• We have discussed safety and security with McMinnville Police Department.

There are so many more people to thank. For all those I left out please know it is not intentional. This situation takes our whole team and they are all important.

As we face this situation head on, I cannot express enough how proud I am of the entire hospital staff. They have worked tirelessly over the past weeks to prepare for this health threat. As a community, please take care of and watch out for each other. Give each other grace and compassion because we are all worried on multiple levels.

Finally, please continue to stay safe by staying home and grocery shopping once a week in normal amounts to let the supply chain balance out. If you are delivering items to others, think of leaving those on doorsteps. Also, try to keep 6 feet of space between you and the next person while in public.

We are proud to serve our community!

Mark Nichols, Chief Executive Officer
Kirsten Ferren, Chief Nursing Officer
Joshua Miller, Chief Financial Officer
Lisa Clark, Director of Human Resources
Aurora Ronning, Director of Physician Services