HJBR-2020-jul-aug

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  JUL / AUG 2020 11 staying in touch with people I didn’t see every day. Just reaching out and touching base, listening to the struggles, and more importantly, listening to the ways in which people were overcoming their struggles, was the best way for us to stay centered and connected. We were able to provide the best possible care to patients when we were taking care of ourselves. Additionally, our health system has always had an em- ployee assistance program that ramped up their services during the pandemic. We also have an ongoing initiative called Joy in Medicine, which is a collaboration between our physicians and administrative team to foster a system that supports the health and well-being of our providers, with the hope of helping them reconnect and rediscover the joy in medicine. What lessons have you learned as a med- ical leader working through a pandemic? During the pandemic, our community was looking to their healthcare providers as a source of truth for reliable informa- tion. Being front-facing in the community, whenever possible, reassures our patients that they will receive care, no matter their situation, and addresses the concerns of the community, both with this pandem- ic, and their everyday wellness. We never shied away from communicating internally or publicly about how people can stay well during this time, and the measures we took to prevent the spread of illness within our clinics and the hospital. Just as patients want to hear fromus, it is important for us to hear from our patients. We regularly communicated with patients through their MyChart accounts, and by email. We asked for feedback on comfort levels in receiving in-person care as the state opened back up. In March and April, we saw a decrease in the number of heart attack and stroke victims being seen in the emergency department because of the fear associated with the hospital as an unsafe place.We used that patient feedback to craft messages reminding the community that it is safe to seek care. Ensuring there was a loopback to receive information was key to ensuring our patients’concerns were heard. Thesemonths have also validated a belief I have about our providers and our com- munity physician partners. Baton Rouge is home to some of the best trained caregiv- ers in the country. I have no doubt our team handled COVID-19 as well as any medical group in the country. Destination clinical services are readily available here at Our Lady of the Lake, and now they are only a click away with our eHealth success. n