HJBR Sep/Oct 2021

48 SEP / OCT 2021  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE   Hospital Rounds as patients from almost 200 zip codes between Florida and Texas. As the Region 2 designated HazMat response hospital, BRG’s Regional Burn Center is critical to Louisiana’s petrochemical, manufacturing, and oil and gas industries, which currently employ nearly 300,000 workers across the state. In 2015, the Regional Burn Center first earned the designation as Louisiana’s only verified burn center. Verification is a rigorous process, demon- strating that BRG provides the highest quality care of burns from time of injury through rehabilitation. Woman’s CEOBarbara Griffith, MD, Accepts Position as President of Duke Raleigh Hospital, Duke Health After serving as CEO of Woman’s Hospital, Barbara Griffith, MD, has been invited to return to Duke Health in the fall as president of Duke Raleigh Hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina, in Wake County. Griffith has been at the helm of Woman’s Hospital through one of the most unique times in healthcare history, navigating both the pandemic and the challenging times that have followed. Paul Cleckner has been named interim CEO of Woman’s Hospital and will begin his tenure follow- ing Griffith’s departure in September. Until then, he will work alongside Griffith during the transi- tion. Cleckner joined Woman’s as chief transfor- mation officer earlier this year. Cleckner has spent his career leading organizations through transfor- mational change and serving in healthcare leader- ship roles, including chief operating officer of mid- dle Tennessee’s Saint Thomas Health, a system composed of nine hospitals, 8,000 employees and more than 1,000 employed or affiliated physicians. “On behalf of the board, I would like to sincerely thank Dr. Griffith for her invaluable leadership and significant contributions to Woman’s. During an incredibly turbulent time in healthcare, she rep- resented the organization with grace, integrity, and vision,” said Ben Marmande, Woman’s Hos- pital Foundation Board chair. Griffith joined Wom- an’s in October 2019 as the sixth CEO of Wom- an’s Hospital. As the former chief medical officer of Duke Regional Hospital, she has 20 years of clinical practice experience and more than 15 years in healthcare leadership roles. During her tenure at Woman’s, she led and supported the work to improve maternal health outcomes, grow the hospital’s surgical volume and add innovative technologies such as interventional radiology — all to increase the comprehensiveness of women’s health services offered at the hospital. Griffith also initiated the commitment to improving diversity, equity and inclusion through staff education and process changes. “Walking into Woman’s, one feels the legacy of caring for generations of families,” said Barbara Griffith. “I will always be thankful for the oppor- tunity to serve the wonderful families of Baton Rouge alongside this incredible team of profes- sionals. The teamwork I witnessed from our execu- tive team, medical staff, and employees has been truly inspirational. I hold the utmost respect for every person I’ve worked with and have been hon- ored to experience their incredible commitment. The strength and commitment of the Woman’s team ensures its continued growth and ability to flourish moving forward.” Woman’s has engaged Korn Ferry, a global consulting firm, in a search for local and national candidates. FMOL Requires COVID-19 Vaccine for All TeamMembers Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health Sys- tem announced to its organization it will require the Covid-19 vaccine for all team members, employed providers, residents, students in clini- cal rotations, contract staff and volunteers. Imple- mentation of the requirement will occur over sev- eral months concluding December of 2021. Richard R. Vath, MD, president and CEO, said, “We have listened to our teammembers and phy- sicians as well as tracked the rapid progress of this fourth surge to reach this decision. Throughout the pandemic, our teams have risen to the call- ing to care for those who need them. We continue that now but already we are straining to meet the demand. It is predicted that we have several weeks and possibly months before we reach the peak of this surge. We must act now to protect each other from spreading the delta variant and protect vulnerable patients from exposure. Vac- cines are the best means of accomplishing this and more important than ever as the lasting step to end this pandemic. We should not wait any lon- ger. Our health system is not alone in its decision to require a vaccine and joins many other health- care organizations and expect others to follow. As a healthcare leader we believe we must take this step now for everyone’s safety and long-term community well-being. “There’s never been a more important time to demonstrate, by example, our responsibility to one another and all those we serve.” Disaster Medical Assistance Team Arrives at Our Lady of the Lake to Support COVID-19 Surge Our Lady of the Lake welcomed relief by the Disaster Medical Assistance Team from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The federal assistance team provides additional sup- port to Louisiana’s largest hospital to care for the high surge of COVID-19 patients, increasing patient care capacity and opening more beds. The 33-member team was welcomed by Our Lady of the Lake this morning with a traditional blessing of hands ceremony as they join together to care for the highest volume of COVID-19 patients the region has experienced thus far due to the Delta variant. The DMAT from the HHS National Disaster Medical System consists of physicians, mid-level providers, nurses, paramedics, a respiratory thera- pist, pharmacists and administrative support spe- cialists who will serve at Our Lady of the Lake’s Regional Medical Center campus for the next month. “We are pleased to welcome national disaster medical professionals to partner with our teams and support the ongoing surge of patients we are experiencing,” said Stephanie Manson, chief operating officer at Our Lady of the Lake. “With their presence, we are able to admit patients faster, open an additional intensive care unit, and provide assistance to our existing COVID-19 units. We appreciate our state and federal government’s support to answer our request for assistance.” n