Amazing People Doing Amazing Things.

During this unprecedented pandemic, our amazing staff have stepped up to adapt and innovate. Here we highlight some of these amazing efforts during our COVID-19 response, including the exceptional care and support that is being provided to our patients, community, and each other.

Emergency Department prepared for an expected surge of COVID-19 patients in New Hampshire

Designated as a Level III Trauma Center, the staff of Exeter Hospital’s Emergency Department (ED) are no strangers to
urgent situations. But the quick onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March prompted the need for an unprecedented
response to ensure the department was prepared to care for a predicted surge of COVID-19 patients.

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Departments Team Up To Offer A Virtual Welcome To New Employees

Prior to the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, our organization’s Corporate Orientation program for new employees ran like a well-oiled machine. Organized and facilitated by Karen Mahoney, Human Resources Coordinator, the program was held every other Monday in the Exeter Hospital conference rooms. The full day, interactive session was designed to provide new staff with the tools, information, and resources needed to start in their new roles. This included presentations by senior leaders and representatives from several departments across our health system. But that all came to a halt when the pandemic hit, and it became apparent corporate orientation would need to adapt to adhere to the new policies about social distancing and the ban on large gatherings.

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Exeter Hospital Lab Services – Adapting to Change with Excellence

One of Exeter Hospital’s departments that has had to do some fast work behind the scenes to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic is our lab. From the very beginning the pressure was on to figure out how to make COVID-19 tests available to our inpatients, outpatients, Emergency Department patients as well as people in the community. Once testing was established, specimen collection had to be addressed. For general community members, drive up testing, run by staff from other areas of the the organization, was established outside the Perry Building.

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Hospital Department of Professional Development & Clinical Support Vital To Our COVID-19 Preparedness Efforts

The staff of Exeter Hospital’s Department of Professional Development and Clinical Support (PDCS) is used to jumping in when needed to deliver training, but generally they have time to plan their curriculum. That wasn’t the case in March, when they were tasked with providing “justin-time” training for clinical staff who were being deployed to assist in other areas as part of our COVID-19 response. Those in need of training included RNs and clinicians from outpatient areas of the Hospital and Core Physicians practices, who were redeployed to inpatient units or the Emergency Department, as well as those from Surgical Services, theED, and the Cardiac Cath Lab, who were asked to work in critical care.

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Environmental Services Team Redefines, Rethinks, and Adjusts to manage COVID-19

Exeter Hospital’s Environmental Services (EVS) team has received many compliments over the years regarding the cleanliness of our facilities. They have always been a respected and important part of our front line staff. But with the current pandemic, the work they do has taken on extra meaning. “Cleanliness, sanitation, and infection prevention has always been our priority,” says Rick Belschner, Department Supervisor.

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Diabetes Center’s Move to Telehealth Is a Model for Chronic Disease Management

It is extremely important for those diagnosed with diabetes to plan for emergencies, and even morecritical during the current national health crisis. That is why the staff of Exeter Hospital’s HealthReach Diabetes Center knew it was essential they rapidly change their patient care model to telehealth as part of our organization’s response to the pandemic. 

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Exeter Hospital’s Switchboard on the Front Line from Behind the Scenes

Exeter Hospital’s Communications/Switchboard staff might be out of sight from patients and employees, but for many of our patients they are the FIRST line of communication with our organization. That has never been more apparent than over the past two months, during the coronavirus pandemic. Prior to March, there were days when the operators and dispatchers handled up to 1000 calls a day. As the national public health crisis began, there were days when that call volumenearly doubled. 

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Core Physicians’ Respiratory Clinic Created for Quality, Safe, Compassionate Care

In early March, as part of our organization’s response to the pandemic, Core Physicians’ Incident Command team began to develop plans to continue to meet patient needs while limiting possible exposure to keep patients and staff safe. They knew their patients were relying on them for help and guidance – especially those experiencing symptoms of the virus. “We knew how important it was, and still is, for those patients to receive specialized assessments and treatment in the safest manner possible,” says Jenn Mason, Practice Director, Primary Care. “Many are anxious, afraid, and not feeling well, and we wanted to provide a place for them to receive safe, high quality care, education, and reassurance.”

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Home Care Providers Adapting to Help Patients at Home

For the past several weeks, we have been flooded with images of healthcare workers on the front lines of the Coronavirus pandemic on the evening news – mostly of doctors and nurses in ICUs and emergency rooms. What we haven’t seen is images of those unsung heroes who are also on the front lines – the home care and hospice nurses, aids, therapists, social workers, and pastors whose job it is to provide health care and support to homebound patients including our own employees who work for Rockingham Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice (RVNA&H).

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Lean Team Makes Valuable Contributions During Covid-19 Response

When our organization first adopted the principles of LEAN thinking eight years ago, the goal was to involve everyone in day-to-day work improvement efforts in support of high quality, effective, and efficient patient care and services. Those Lean principles have contributed greatly to several aspects of our current Covid-19 response. “I believe we were better prepared than many other health systems to deal with the rapid changes we have had to implement over the past several weeks because so many of our staff have gone through the Lean Daily Management System (LDMS) training,” says Mary Beth Jermyn, Director of Operational Innovation, who oversees the Lean staff.

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Using UV Disinfection to Keep Staff Safe

We are so grateful to our staff for helping us preserve our limited supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) over the past six weeks or so. The guidance for re-use/extended use provided by our Infectious Disease specialists has been a major change from what everyone is used to, and has been necessary due to the supply shortages throughout the country. Our goal continues to be ensuring the safety of our staff and patients.

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Cancer Care Continues During Covid-19 Pandemic

Cancer does not stop during a pandemic, and it’s vital patients in active treatment continue to follow their care plan. That is why the staff of the Hospital’s Center for Cancer Care has taken extra measures to ensure their patients continue to receive safe, appropriate, and compassionate care.

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National Recognition for Core’s COVID-19 protocols

In March, Dr.Bernard and Dr. Jones collaborated to develop a COVID-19 Telephone Triage Protocol for Core’s adult and pediatric patients. The algorithms were rolled out to all Core triage nurses at the same time Core’s Respiratory Clinic and the mobile Covid-19 testing clinic opened on the Hospital campus.

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A New Role: Outreach for PPE

Several weeks ago, as part of our organizational preparedness for the current public health crisis, our Coronavirus Preparedness Team identified a critical need for obtaining personal protective equipment(PPE) for the safety of our staff.

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ICU: Compassionate Care Like Never Before

When I said there are no words to say how I feel about each and every staff member of the ICU, I was reminded that not everyone knows that this staff and all the staff at Exeter Hospital, would never allow anyone to be alone. I promised I would tell people. I need you to know that, despite this terrible virus and all the negative ramifications of it, specifically the restrictions on hospital visits of our loved ones, they are never alone. The staff will skip meals, bathroom breaks, fluid intake, and even scheduled leave times, just to be there with our family members.

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Helping Families Grieve During COVID-19

To help the families and friends of hospice patients who pass during this national public health crisis, Jane began assembling “Grief Kits” designed to help facilitate a simple ritual of remembrance in their own households. She saw the idea on a pastoral care post on the Unitarian Universalist Association website, and thought RVNA&H’s hospice families would welcome the gift. The kit contains a candle, homemade seed paper token, intention stone, and a poem. It also includes suggestions for personalizing the ritual with photographs, loving memories, spiritual readings, and music.

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Mobile COVID-19 Testing Tent Takes a Team

As part of our organizational readiness efforts during the current pandemic, the Coronavirus Preparedness Team knew it was vital to offer a mobile Covid-19 testing site for our patients, employees, and local first responders.  Thanks to a team of employees working together as one, the site was set up on the Exeter Hospital campus in less than 24 hours after the request was made.

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Employees Take on New Role as Screeners

They say it takes a village, or in our case, a team of employees working together as one - to keep our staff and patients safe!  Our Employee Screeners are part of a team who are working to do just that!  They are positioned at the entrances to all of our buildings to ensure every person who walks through the doors are screened for symptoms of Covid-19 and for anything that may have exposed them to the virus.  Their sole purpose is to keep everyone safe. 

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