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7.01.20

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NorthBay CaresThrough COVID-19

See DIVERSITY, Page 4

INSIDENew Hires 2Honoring CNA Week 3No CLABSIs! 6Letters 8New RIR System 14 Tips for Masking 16

HR Launches Diversity InitiativeSee OPTIONS, Page 10

The Cardiac Rehabilita-tion team is ready to care for patients they haven’t been able to see in months, as well as those who have been patiently wait-ing for care. Read on Page 12 how they’ve prepared for re-opening the center on the NorthBay Medical Center campus.

Charting Our Road to Recovery

CardiacRehab isBACK!

As lockdown orders are being lifted in Solano County despite a rise in COVID-19 cases, NorthBay Healthcare has found one solid answer to a couple of dilemmas: drive-through testing.

It worked back in March, when the NorthBay Coumadin clinic needed a way to keep patients safe, while conducting regular blood tests to ensure the proper dosage of medicine was being

See RECOVERY, Page 5

As society grapples with difficult questions of injustice, racial inequality and police vio-lence, NorthBay Healthcare is poised to open a dialogue with employees, in hopes of rec-ognizing concerns, respecting differences and emphasizing inclusion.

To that end, Mary Dug-bartey, director of Talent and

Organizational Development, is putting together a committee of passionate individuals who want to help chart NorthBay’s journey.

“Our workforce comprises people from diverse back-grounds with diverse experi-ences,” said Mary. “In the true spirit of The NorthBay Way, we

President and CEO Konard Jones unveiled a six-month NorthBay COVID-19 Recovery Plan Tuesday to close a significant budget gap created by the extraordinary costs and safety measures that supported NorthBay’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The plan’s primary objectives are to preserve North-

Bay’s valuable workforce as much as pos-sible; avoid salary reductions; and protect our independence. Without action now, the budget gap for 2020 could be $70 million, Konard reported.

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TO REMEMBERDATES

IN THE NEWSPEOPLE

LETTERS

DATES

PEOPLE

NEW FACESWELCOMEWELCOME

LETTERS

Sandra AlcantarEnvironmental Services AideEnvironmental ServicesVacaValley Hospital

Benjamin BenavidesHelp Desk Support IHelp DeskGreen Valley Administration Center

Alizum BeuselinckMedical Oncology NurseMedical OncologyVacaValley Wellness Center

Marlon CerecaNutrition Associate IINutrition Services, NorthBay Medical Center

Zakkiyyah DixonPatient Account Rep. IPatient AccountingGreen Valley Administration Center

Rochelle EugenioNutrition Associate INutrition ServicesVacaValley Hospital

Randall FritzSecurity Officer II, SecurityNorthBay Medical Center

Christina GoodmanSupply Chain TechnicianMaterials ManagementNorthBay Medical Center

Michael JohnsonClinical Nurse IISurgery, NorthBay Medical Center

Princess PalmerStaffing/Scheduling SpecialistClinical Support ServicesVacaValley Hospital

Emily PrimusClinical Nurse II2 North Acute SurgicalNorthBay Medical Center

Felina TadiamanClinical Nurse IIIntensive Care UnitNorthBay Medical Center

Syeisha WilliamsUnit ClerkUnit 1600NorthBay Medical Center

Tala ZahedikiaClinical Pharmacist IIPharmacyVacaValley Hospital

NorthBay Guild members voted via email to award scholar-ships to eight local high school students this year.

All were student volunteers with the Guild, according to Lou Lopez, supervisor of Volunteer Services, and each received $1,000.

The awardees are:Olivia Bartley, who plans on attending Valdosta State Uni-

versity; Sariah Carson, who plans on attending North Carolina A&T

State University; Jack Creedon and Priya Manger, who will be attending

Sacramento State University; Victoria Lawson, who is headed to the University of Penn-

sylvania; and Jhanay Rowden, who will attend Johns Hopkins University.Two Martha S. Orr Scholarships were presented to gradu-

ates of Vacaville High School. The late Martha Orr was both a Guild volunteer and member of the NorthBay Healthcare corporate board of directors.

Kody Pardini and David Psaila received the awards for 2020. Kody is headed to Butte College and David will attend Solano Community College.

NorthBay Guild Awards ScholarshipsDuring the global pandemic,

the Alzheimer’s Association has established its caregiver support groups by telephone.

Now, more than ever, caregiv-ers are likely experiencing enor-mous stress and anxiety, and the support groups help reassure participants that they are not alone, according to group facilita-tor Bob Panzer.

Donna Stewart will assist Bob in facilitating the group.

The monthly Vacaville North-Bay Alzheimer’s Dementia Care-giver Support Group will be held via phone conference at 7 p.m. July 8.

Call the Alzheimer’s Associa-tion at (800) 272-3900 to reg-ister in advance of the meeting date.

Alzheimer’s GroupTo Meet Via Phone

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Both Hospital Teams Celebrate CNA WeekStaff at both NorthBay Medical

Center and NorthBay VacaValley Hospital went into action to cel-ebrate Certified Nursing Assistant Week, June 18-24.

At both hospitals, posters featur-ing CNAs as babies were featured and guessing games held to see if they could be easily identified.

Banners proclaimed, “We Love Our CNAs,” and “Our CNAs are the Heartbeat of 1 West.”

“It’s a great time for us to tell our CNAs, unit clerks and monitor techs how much we as nurses appreciate their assistance and support,” said Traci Duncan, vice president and Chief Nursing Officer. “They are key to our success.”

A banner at NorthBay Medical Center (far left) was partnered with a poster fea-turing the images of CNAs as ba-bies, for a guess-ing game. Similar banners were also displayed at NorthBay Vaca-Valley Hospital.

The CNA team at 1 West (at left) were treated to goodie bags as part of their celebration of National Nursing Assistant Week June 18-24. The banner (above) on 1 West had plenty of room for everyone to sign it.

Team members gathered around the poster on 1 West to see if they could identify who belonged to which baby photo.

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Ambassador to Lead Talk of NorthBay

Jubilee Fundraiser Rescheduled to 2021

Talk of NorthBay Toastmasters Club has elected new officers for the coming year.

Art Smith, patient experience ambas-sador, was elected president of the club, taking the reins from immediate past president Jennifer Johnson, administrative support specialist, who moved to the sec-retary/treasurer role for the club.

Robin Miller, social media and online specialist for North-Bay, retained her role as vice president of public relations for the club and Ryan Pasco, director of Philanthropic Giv-ing with NorthBay Healthcare Foundation will join Robin as a lieutenant, helping with public relations efforts for the club.

Tracy Clontz, in Health Information Management, was selected as vice president of education for the club

The club meets Wednesdays at noon via Zoom and is open to anyone in the community, including staff.

Through the years, the North-Bay Wine, Brew & Food Jubilee has faced blistering heat, high winds, rainstorms and even numerous venue changes, but overcoming a global pandemic was something organizers just couldn’t surmount, according to Brett Johnson, president, North-Bay Healthcare Foundation.

The event, originally sched-uled for May 16 but rescheduled for August 29, has now been postponed until next year, Brett announced, due to COVID-19 uncertainties.

“It was with a heavy heart that we shared our difficult decision to postpone the celebration with the Foundation Board members, and our loyal sponsors, vendors and ticketholders,” noted Craig Bryan, chair of the 33rd Jubilee.

“Our decision was rooted in the best interests of everyone’s personal health, based on guidelines from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and from state and local health care leaders,” he said. “The event requires a great deal of advance planning and we must be sensitive to our beer, wine and food vendors as they face staffing and

supply chain hurdles. And, as al-ways, NorthBay Healthcare must put the health of our community first,” Craig said.

Jubilee organizers implored sponsors to consider rolling their 2020 financial support over to the 2021 event, “in whatever form it may take given our new world order,” so that NorthBay Hospice & Bereavement could continue to provide compassion-ate, end-of-life care for every-one.

All tickets will be honored for 2021 with no further action on ticketholder’s part. Anyone wish-ing to support Hospice in 2020 can donate at www.NorthBay.org/donate.

“We are grateful for the support the commu-nity has given us in the past, and promise to keep everyone informed as we figure out our next steps,” noted Dennis Landis, chair of the Foundation Board. “We remain focused on our mission of raising the funds that allow us to provide the care our commu-nity needs, when they need it most.”

More information is available at www.NorthBay.org/Jubilee.

Diversity ...(From Page 1)

Art Smith

can address today’s conflicts by listen-ing to, understanding and embracing one another,” she said. “We know that perceived differences, when explored, often become connections to one an-other.”

Mary said she’s already had a num-ber of individuals volunteer to serve on the task force.

“We’re still building the framework, and we’re open to engagement, so if someone is interested, please email me and see how you can be involved,” she said. Her email address is Mary.Dugbartey@NorthBay.org.

NorthBay had already started devel-oping a diversity initiative before the

See DIVERSITY, Page 5

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Recovery ...(From Page 1)

world erupted with outrage and dismay over the horrific death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died while plead-ing for his life under the knee of an unrelenting police officer in Minneapolis.

What followed were weeks of protests and calls for change.

It prompted NorthBay to push forward with plans to announce its Diversity and Inclusion Initia-tive, just in time to pay tribute to Juneteeth, an annual celebra-

tion commemorating the end of slavery.

“Here at NorthBay, our pri-mary mission is serving our patients, but we stay very com-mitted to our employees,” said Jim Andersen, vice president of Human Resources. “We do not exist in isolation, detached from our community. Many of us want to help. And it’s important to note that ‘help’ means differ-ent things to different people. Some help through their places of worship. Some by mentoring. Some by volunteering for various causes.”

Although much is still up for consideration, Mary believes the path forward will involve a balanced offering of education, memos and huddle notes, heart-felt testimonials and open forums for conversation.

“Tragic and deplorable acts have occurred in this country, but I am hopeful that the time is right — both here at NorthBay and beyond — to bring the issues of racial inequality and inclusion front and center, so we can all learn to focus on listening to one another, and learning from one another,” said Mary.

Diversity ...(From Page 4)

“It is a difficult path, but it is one we can — and will — suc-cessfully navigate,” Konard said. “We are making some formidable adjustments across the health system that will impact us all.”

Although NorthBay simply could not have foreseen the depth and breadth of COVID-19’s impact on hospitals, on the economy and on all of our lives, Konard said, its management team has been working since the pandemic’s beginning, to offset some of the anticipated financial shock. The steps they’ve already taken in-clude:

4 Tracking every dollar spent on COVID-19 to pursue receiving relief funds from government and insurance;

4 Aggressively reaching out to patients and the public to reas-sure them it is safe to receive the care they need;

4 Resuming elected surgeries and procedures — carefully and competently;

4 Implementing video and virtual visits across the system to recapture patient volume;

4 Closing Care ‘til 8 and mov-

ing all after-hour visits to North-Bay Urgent Care centers;

4 Halting non-essential bud-get expenditures, from travel to advertising to community spon-sorships; and

4 Leaving unfilled many va-cant staff positions.

NorthBay Healthcare is adding the following cost-saving mea-sures:

4 Filling positions only after approval by a review committee;

4 Focus on reducing overtime;4 Temporarily suspending

NorthBay’s matching contribution to the 403(b) retirement plan;

4 Temporarily reducing Va-cation/Holiday accrual rate by 50 percent while establishing a new maximum accrual “cap” for vacation/holiday more in line with industry standards;

4 Creating a new accrual rate and cap for vacation/holiday hours for those hired after today;

4 Establishing a new accrual “cap” for sick leave hours without reducing any accrual earned to date while limiting the number of sick leave hours available for incidental use per calendar year; 4 Requiring some employees to take extra time off to reduce the current vacation/holiday accruals;

4 Suspending the annual

wage adjustment planned for later this year; and

4 Asking every division across the system to achieve a 5 percent expense budget reduction from now through the end of the year.

A full list is available on Share-Space.

The full text of Konard’s mes-sage is also available on Share-Space, along with detailed Fre-quently Asked Questions and feedback channels through which employees can ask questions, talk one-on-one with Human Resourc-es staff and make suggestions for creative cost-savings efficiencies.

Here’s how individuals can pro-vide feedback:

4 Discuss with your supervisor or manager ideas for cost sav-ings;

4 Participate with senior managers in staff councils, if your department has them;

4 Talk to leaders who will be rounding daily in all facilities;

4 Send an email to Sugges-tions@NorthBay.org; and/or

4 Call (707) 646-4799 week-days, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. and connect directly with a Hu-man Resources team member.

“I am confident each one of us will do our very best to meet the challenge ahead,” Konard said.

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Both ICUs Shine as Safety Star Winners

NorthBay Healthcare’s Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) Work-group made the rounds June 25 to honor outstanding efforts to reduce and prevent hospital-acquired infections at NorthBay Medical Center and VacaValley Hospital.

“For the last three years, we have made a focused effort to reduce hospital-acquired infec-tions and we are here today to honor your successful efforts,” said Shelley Johnson, director of Critical Care Services, as she presented new Safety Stars cer-tificates to each unit at the two hospitals.

Each of the units received certificates to hang on the wall noting the number of days they have gone since their last CLABSI (central line-associated blood-stream infection):

The ICU team at NorthBay Medical Cen-ter has gone 838 days without a CLABSI, and 461 days since their last CAUTI.

The ICU team at North-Bay VacaValley Hospital received Safety Star Awards for 731 days without a CLABSI, 461 days without a CAUTI and 452 days without a hospital-acquired C-diff infection.

The team from the Neonatal Intensive

Care Unit at NorthBay Medical Center have not had a CLABSI in the past five years,

the longest record of all departments and

divisions.

NICU Hasn’t HadA CLABSI in thePast Five Years

See STARS, Page 7

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4 NorthBay Medical Center Units 1600 and 1700: 957 days.

4 NorthBay Medical Center Unit 1800: 365 days.4 NorthBay Medical Center ICU: 838 days.4 NorthBay Medical Center NICU: Five years.4 VacaValley Hospital 1 West and 2 West: 371

days.4 VacaValley Hospital ICU: 731 days.In addition, the ICU at VacaValley was also hon-

ored for the number of days it has gone since its last CAUTI (catheter-associated urinary tract infection) — (1,083) as well as hospital-acquired C-diff (452).

NorthBay Medical Center’s ICU also received a certificate for the number of days it has gone since its last CAUTI (461).

“This achievement for units was a team effort that involved all unit staff and the support of the HAI Workgroup,” said A’shya Cabral, Infection Prevention assistant and member of the HAI Workgroup.

Stars ... (From Page 6)

Teams from 1 and 2 West, Units 1600, 1700 and 1800 celebrate their success

with Safety Star awards.

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From Mail to Online

Incredibly Grateful for Amazing Nurse

Feedback Policy

FYI publishes letters written to administration and staff of NorthBay Healthcare, as well as social media posts and excerpts of patient reviews. Editors of FYI reserve the right to edit them for length and content. We suggest letters be limited to 250 words in length.

We typically withhold names of patients unless they specifically request to be named.

If you’ve received a letter you’d like to share, or want to write a letter to share with fellow employees, please e-mail it to dbarney@northbay.org.

Blessed With Dr. Krier on Care Team

Patient Praises ‘Best Doctor’ Ever

Just created an anonymous profile on here to keep my dad’s info somewhat private and write a review that is long overdue, but what better time than National Nurses Day to write my review, right?!

I just want to first start by thanking all those involved in the care of my father, in early January, before all this Covid pandemonium started. He unfor-tunately had a stroke and suf-fered much of the loss of motor function to the right side of his body. As you can imagine, this took quite a toll on my dad and our family.

As we went in to see my dad every day to be there for sup-port, there was one nurse in particular who I wanted to send a very special shout out to. His name is Aaron Ruiz, R.N., and he works on the recovery unit.

Although we encountered a number of amazing staff mem-

bers, Aaron sticks out to myself and my family for our own rea-sons. I know we were not always easy to deal with during that frustrating time, and Aaron was always composed, empathetic, never left us in the dark, and always made us feel like our time was extremely valuable to him.

But ultimately, the reason I chose to recognize him on Na-tional Nurses Day, is for what he did after my dad was discharged from NorthBay to a rehab cen-ter in Napa. On that day, he told my dad he’d try to visit him and check on his progress if that was OK. Lo and behold, two days later, on a Saturday, there was Aaron to the surprise of us all.

He took time from his day off to visit my dad and offer words of encouragement. Aaron ended up spending the entire day with my dad and our family until visiting hours were over.

Oh gosh! I’m crying now, so let me wrap this up. Aaron, if you get to read this, I just want to say how incredibly grate-ful we are to you for being the nurse that you are, but more so, for just being the kind-hearted human being that you are, which isn’t always easy to find these days. Your mom raised an amazing young man, and never change. Happy National Nurses Day.

— Family of a patient, posted on Yelp.

Dr. Krier is a part of my cancer care team. I have come to love and appreciate his care for my physical and emotional well-be-ing. He is truly gifted beyond his medical knowledge and educa-tion. I am blessed to have him on my team from the beginning of my care in 2017 up until today.

I rest easy with the knowl-edge that he shares with me his

care for my physical health and sincere support of my emotional health. There is no greater well-rounded physician to be found. He has reached out to me even off the clock to extend his sup-port and concern.

I appreciate him and recom-mend him to any individual seek-ing his specialty!

— Healthgrades.com patient review

I’m so happy that my doctor (Dr. Nguyen Khoi Nguyen) gave me awesome care. She took the time to listen to me and to help me with my health issues. She also asked more of the right questions. This helped me to ex-plain the problems that I needed

help with. She was an exemplary exam-

ple of professionalism and cour-tesy. She is the best doctor that I ever had in my life. I like her very much! I can highly recom-mend her.

— Healthgrades.com patient review

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Lou Lopez, NorthBay Volunteer Services supervisor (right) and Jennifer Flam (left), chaplain and volunteer coordinator for NorthBay Hospice & Bereavement, accept a Soroptimist check for $1,000 from long-time Hospice volunteer Lynn Gallagher.

NorthBay Volunteers are Real Gems!Soroptimist AwardsRuby Honors forOutstanding Service

Two longtime NorthBay Guild volunteers were honored in June for outstanding contributions to the Vacaville community.

Lynn Gallagher and Pat Den-nis were both recipients of the Soroptimist International of Va-caville’s prestigious Ruby Award.The honor was bestowed during a Zoom meeting on June 16.

Lynn, a charter member of the NorthBay Hospice & Bereave-ment Volunteer Program, has been helping families through end-of-life challenges since 1987.

Her first encounter with a hospice program came when her mother was dying in 1986.

“It was such a huge help, so impactful to me and my father,” she recalls. When NorthBay Healthcare began its program in 1987, she was among the first to sign up for training. She contin-ues to serve to this day, as the program’s most veteran volun-teer.

“The Hospice team can bring stability at a difficult time, offer-ing comfort and support and re-ally help them and their families share their stories in those final days.”

She has also been active in her church, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, and in food distribution programs to help those in need.

Pat Dennis is a volunteer extraordinaire in Solano County and is currently president of the Saturday Club. She has held leadership positions with the NorthBay Guild, the Wednesday Club of Suisun and the Vacaville Museum Guild.

Pat says if it wasn’t for her involvement with the NorthBay

Guild, she wouldn’t know anyone in Solano County.

“When my husband and I moved here 22 years ago, we didn’t know anyone. NorthBay was my stepping stone. I got to go to everything and meet won-derful people, thanks to North-Bay.”

In addition to serving 21 years on the NorthBay Guild, Pat also put in five years as a Hospice and Bereavement volunteer.

Soroptimist International of Vacaville is a global volunteer or-ganization that provides women and girls with the access to edu-cation and training they need to achieve economic empowerment.

The Ruby Award is named after the first president of the Washington, D.C., Soroptimist Club, Ruby Lee Minar. It has also been known as the Woman of the Year award.

The Ruby Award acknowl-edges outstanding community achievements and comes with a $1,000 donation in each winners’ name, made to their charity of choice.

Lynn’s charity of choice is NorthBay Hospice & Bereave-ment. Pat’s charity of choice is the Saturday Club’s scholarship program.

“We are so proud of the contributions these two women have made, not only to NorthBay Healthcare, but to their com-munity overall,” said Lou Lopez, Volunteer Services supervisor. “Their awards are well-deserved.”

Pat Dennis Lynn Gallagher

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Options...(From Page 1)

taken. And it has worked in June to get elective surgeries back on track, thanks to a team of nurs-es at the Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC), according to Jim Bollig, senior director of Periop-erative Services.

“The pre-screening protocal was established in late April and pilot-tested in early May,” Jim explained. “The task was critical to the resumption of a full elec-tive surgery schedule, so I asked Greg Weicher, clinical nurse supervisor in Surgery, to provide full oversight,” he explained.

Greg oversees the process — calling, scheduling, collection of specimens and ensuring the results are reported — as well as the staffing needed to ensure the process is working, Jim said.

“It’s a whole new process and the staff at the ASC have really stepped up and taken it on,” Greg said. “From administration to nursing staff, they are all work-ing hard. They’ve had to adapt to constantly changing guidelines, but they are quick to adapt and have a good attitude. They’re do-ing amazing things here.”

The process starts with pa-tients answering seven ques-tions. A yes answer on any of the first four — related to COVID exposure — results in a cancella-tion of the surgery. A yes answer on the next three will generate a review by the surgeon and an-esthesiologist, considering such things as if the surgery will re-quire full anesthesia, or result in the patient having to recover in a skilled nursing facility.

If the case is green-lighted, the patient is scheduled to come to the ASC for a nasal swab, about four to five days before the surgery, Greg explained. Patients

drive up to the ASC and wait in their cars, where they are greet-ed by one of the nurses. After confirming their name and birth-date, the nurses go back into the ASC and gown up for the swab-bing procedure. If the nasal swab comes back negative, the sur-gery goes on as scheduled. The patient will be swabbed again on the day of surgery.

Five cardiac rehabilitation nurses were trained to conduct the swabbing tests. “When not helping with swabbing duties, they are calling patients to give directions for testing and to in-tegrate into the pre-op process,” Jim said.

“We’re doing 30 to 40 tests a day, with the goal of reaching 200 a week,” Greg added.

“I know staff is thrilled to be

back at work and we’re busy again,” Greg said. “We are back to full elective surgical capacity and June has been a fantastic month. We may not only meet, but surpass our numbers from June of last year.”

“Greg and the staff have done a great job of initiating and refining the process as we move forward,” Jim said.

The team of three clinical pharmacists, a patient services representative and a manager who run the NorthBay Coumadin Clinic knew they had to come up with something, and fast, when it was clear that a countywide shut-

Patients scheduled for elective surgery come to the Am-bulatory Surgery Center several days in advance and are greeted by nurses who pro-vide pre-surgical screening, includ-ing a temperature check and a nasal swab. A nega-tive test means the procedure is green-lighted.

See OPTIONS, Page 11

How About Coumadin?

11

down was imminent in March.“Anticoagulation monitor-

ing and testing for individuals prescribed the drug Warfarin is crucial to ensure that drug levels are not too high or too low,” ex-plained Erika Johnson, anticoagu-lation pharmacist. “The frequency of testing depends upon how stable the patient is.”

Should the drug level be out of a predetermined range, the pharmacist provides specific instructions advising the patient how to adjust their medication accordingly.

“Our patient population com-prises a demographic at highest risk for contracting COVID-19,” Erika explained. “Therefore, we had to come up with a game plan that would ensure timely monitoring but not compromise patient safety. Thus, the drive-through clinic was born.”

The first one happened on March 19, next to the Emergency Department ambulance bay at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital.

“Initially our patients were skeptical,” recalled Erika. “Pa-tients would drive up and then attempt to get out of their ve-hicle, even though that was the opposite of what we wanted. Sometimes they’d show up early and park, and want to chat, which would hold up the line. But mostly, patients were scared.

“The shelter-at-home or-der really rattled a lot of folks’ nerves,” she said. “But eventu-ally, patients became comfort-able with the setup and actually love it. For those that have issues walking even short distances, the convenience is greatly appreciated.”

About 30 patients per day come through the clinic, which is

open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Appointments are required, and patients are scheduled in 15-minute intervals, except for new visits, which are allotted 30 minutes.

When the temperatures started to rise, the clinic was moved to the driveway in front of HealthSpring Fitness, because it offered more shade, a bird’s eye-view of the drive-through and a cool place for staff to rest while waiting for the next vehicle.

Pharmacy Manager Hy Ton said the service will continue, at least through the summer.

“When COVID-19 is but a distant tale we look back upon, I think we will return to a four-walled structure, because al-though the convenience is great for patients, a drive-through op-eration does have its drawbacks for staff,” said Erika.

“Mother Nature forces us to be creative, performing finger sticks in the rain and dealing with temperature-sensitive testing machines keeps staff remember-ing to have a sense of humor.”

As Solano County reported its climb in COVID-19 cases to 1,026 on June 29, NorthBay Healthcare saw a startling increase, both in

positive cases and in hospitalized cases. By June 29, Solano County reported 38 hospitalized patients in the county. Fifteen of those were receiving care at NorthBay Medical Center.

As of June 29, NorthBay Urgent Care had tested 1,200 pa-tients, and recorded 87 positives. At the hospital, 1,623 tests have been administered, with 101 positives.

NorthBay Healthcare’s se-ries of Thursday morning Face-book Live chats on COVID-19 with Chief Medical Officer Seth Kaufman, M.D., will take a holi-day break this week, but will resume on July 9.

In the past two weeks, Dr. Kaufman has discussed the latest on testing for the virus as well as precautions to take as busi-nesses and communities begin to reopen.

The July 9 discussion will focus on the latest research on CO-VID-19 and susceptible popula-tions.

The chats are held at 10 a.m. every Thursday, unless otherwise noted, on the NorthBay Facebook Page (Facebook.com/NorthBay-Healthcare). Previous chats can be found on www.NorthBay.org/COVIDChat.

Options...(From Page 10)

Heidi Isreal, clinical phar-macist (left), is on duty at the NorthBay Coumadin drive-up clinic outside HealthSpring Fitness.

Testing Continues

More Chats to Come

12

Cardiac Rehab Team Happy to be Back

Cardiac rehabili-tation patients returning for treatment will find that the center’s equip-ment has been realigned to accommodate social distanc-ing and to avoid the need for them to share. Team members are thrilled to be back at work after more than three months away.

Recumbent bikes and tread-mills are humming again in the Cardiac Rehabilitation Depart-ment, as the team began caring for patients again after a three-month-plus hiatus on June 29.

Cardiac rehab patients will be seen at NorthBay Medical Cen-ter, while the VacaValley Well-ness Center unit remains closed for the time being, according to Karen Loewe, clinical manager, Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation.

“We had 65 patients at the time therapy was interrupted, and now have more than 150 new patient referrals waiting in the wings,” said Kim William-son, director of Cardiopulmonary Services. “It’s going to take some time to catch up!”

To meet the demand, the team will slowly begin to sched-ule those who were in mid-treatment when the service shut down in early March, according to Karen. Then, those who were going to start treatment later in March will be scheduled. The new

referrals will be added in as the schedule expands.

“We plan to lengthen the unit’s hours as the schedule becomes full, from eight hour days to 10-hour days, and utilizing Tues-day, Thursday and Saturday to increase the number of patients who can be seen,” Karen ex-plained. Staff will only be working eight-hour shifts and not acruing overtime. It will be a slow but staggered process, so that not all patients will graduate at the same time, she added.

Unfortunately, P.M. shift can no longer use Rehab’s patient parking lot because of the ex-tended hours.

When cardiac rehab patients arrive at the unit, they will find it has been realigned into exer-cise “pods.” Each pod has varying amounts and types of equipment, so patients do not have to share the equipment with others during a session, and all are taped off to provide necessary social distanc-ing. Equipment will be cleaned

between patients.During the time the rehab

unit was closed, team members fanned out within the organiza-tion to provide help where it was needed, Karen said.

“Some worked in the Vacaville and Hilborn CPCs, doing transi-tional care follow-up calls. They also did outreach calls for more than 4,500 CPC patients, which included making deliveries, help-ing with medication challenges and social interaction.”

Most recently, team members have been working with Periop-erative Services doing COVID screening at the Ambulatory Surgery Center, and making pre-op phone calls one week before a scheduled procedure.

“I want to sincerely thank the Cardiopulmonary staff,” said Kim. “They have been extremely flex-ible and willing to do anything while we were closed. I know they have earned the respect and admiration of many people within the NorthBay family.”

13

Dr. Dhond Shares Meditation Tips

Nga Truong, a Farmers Insurance Agent from San Jose, helped deliver 100 meals from Noodle House in Fairfield to staff at NorthBay Medi-cal Center in June. Her insurance agency pitched in to help with the costs and a note was included on each of the delivery bags: “We hope you know how much we admire ALL that you do. From the bottom of our hearts we want to thank you for your unwavering dedication during these trying times. This is a small token of our appreciation. A giant thank-you and may God bless you infinitely.”

With pandemic panic in the air, a NorthBay Healthcare car-diologist decided to put his skills to work, recording meditation videos for all who want to learn techniques to soothe calmed nerves.

Milind Dhond, M.D., medical director of interventional cardiol-ogy, teaches jujitsu and leads Kundalini meditation in his spare time. He has studied meditation for 40 years, with 20 years under Swami Radhikananda from the Siddha Yoga Ashram in India.

“There’s thousands of differ-ent ways to meditate and a range of benefits you can have from meditating,” he said. “The stress level is very high right now, both in the community and the hospi-tal. I’m sharing these techniques that you can use in your day-to-day life to offer a sense of relax-ation.”

In his six-video series, Dr. Dhond addresses basic breath-ing and relaxation techniques as well as deeper techniques and a 10-minute yoga stretching rou-tine.

Dr. Dhond is one of several NorthBay Healthcare physicians

who have taken time to record videos offering advice on all number of topics, from mental health to ideas for keeping chil-dren occupied while at home.

Also featured on the site are:4 Corinna Press, Phy.d, a

clinical psychologist at the Center for Primary Care who has a series of six videos focused on mental health, depression and anxiety, and offers practical tips on coping strategies.

4 Pediatrician Bruce Hewett, M.D., who offers a couple of videos aimed at giving parents

Farmers AgentGives Meals, Thanks

good ideas on how to keep their youngsters engaged during the lockdown.

4 Orthopedic Surgeon An-drew Brooks, M.D., who has suggestions for patients awaiting surgery.

All of the videos can be viewed at https://www.northbay.org/about/Doctor-Videos-for-Shelter-in-Home.cfm.

A series of Facebook chats by Chief Medical Officer Seth Kaufman, M.D. can be found at https://www.northbay.org/about/COVIDChat.cfm.

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New Event Reporting System Goes Live

By Scott DawsonNorthBay is pleased to announce our

new Event Reporting System — VigiLanz — which replaces the Midas Risk Report-ing System, effective today (July 1.)

VigiLanz provides several improved capabilities, including reporter feedback, a consolidation of reporting mecha-nisms, enhanced data analysis and reporting, au-tomated Risk Identification Reporting (RIR) referral and an escalation process to monitor RIR review and action.

Despite the changes and upgrades, we have re-tained the familiar RIR logo.

“The lack of feedback to staff who reported an event has always been a drawback of our event reporting system,” said Todd Pelletier, Patient Safety Manager. “People naturally want to know if their report was received and what was done with it.”

VigiLanz solves that concern by sending an automated e-mail to the user acknowledging and thanking the reporter for the submission. More importantly, reporters can access reporting history, including the status and disposition of each previ-ous RIR submission. Another beneficial feature is that users can now save an RIR in progress and return to complete the report later.

Reporters can access the new event reporting system by clicking the RIR Icon on the ShareSpace front page and enter the system through the single sign-on function.

Despite the single sign-on functionality, reports will still have the option to report anonymously.

Reporters will notice more user friendly category selections and an improved patient search function. To help aid in analysis and improvement, reports will have the opportunity to identify their perceived risk and occurrence frequen-cy of the reported event along with any improvement suggestions.

“NorthBay currently utilizes VigiLanz software for Infection Prevention and Pharmacy Surveil-lance. Adding another VigiLanz product made sense to better integrate some of our key patient safety activities,” said Nicole Brocato, vice president, Op-erations and Chief Quality Officer. Nicole added that NorthBay was further impressed with the VigiLanz product through partnering discussions with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. However, Midas software modules other than RIR reporting will con-tinue to be available to staff.

Training modules for submitting an RIR, com-pleting a previously saved RIR and completing an investigation are available on ShareSpace at the Patient Safety page.

“NorthBay staff are encouraged to submit ques-tions and feedback on the new system to the Pa-tient Safety mailbox at PatientSafety@NorthBay.org.

Your feedback will help us to make improve-ments to the system and to tailor additional staff education, commented Heather Resseger, Director, Quality Division.

The author is the patient safety coordinator for NorthBay Healthcare.

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Shared Governance Spirit Stays Strong

By Sarah DiGeorge and Jennifer Cardenas

As part of the leadership team for Shared Governance we, like everyone else, were saddened to hear of the temporary cancel-lation of the all-day, in-person monthly Shared Governance meetings that have been held since 2010 at the Green Valley Administration Center.

Although we’re moving to virtual meetings to socially dis-tance, we’re also developing chat boards to provide avenues for feedback and dialogue.

We support and appreciate NorthBay Healthcare’s efforts to make significant financial chang-es in order to prevent layoffs and/or pay cuts similar to those occuring in other organizations across the country.

Although the in-person meet-ings are temporarily canceled, we wanted to assure everyone that the spirit of Shared Governance very much stays a part of our organization and culture.

Our leadership team is work-ing on other innovative ways

to incorporate our structure of shared decision-making and ob-taining staff input and feedback.

In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to our leader-ship team with any suggestions or feedback.

Yes, 2020 has proven to be a challenging year for so many rea-sons. Continue to keep working together and lifting each other up. Shared Governance will con-tinue to advocate for our patients and colleagues.

We are NorthBay Strong. We must stay diligent and push for-ward. Please remember to take care of our community and each

other at our most trying times. We are so proud to be a part

of this team and organization. Your Shared Governance Lead-ership Team includes Stephanie Wilson, Megan Ferreira, Sarah DiGeorge, Jennifer Cardenas, and Leah Kuchta. Advisors to the team are Jennifer Tudor and Elisa Jang.

Shared Governance is a structural model of nursing practice designed to integrate core values and beliefs that professional practice embrac-es as a means of achieving quality care. It involves team-work, problem-solving and accountability, with the goals of improved staff satisfac-tion, productivity and patient outcomes. It brings together nursing leaders from through-out the organization to set goals and impact decisions. The authors of this column are serving as co-communica-tion officers. Sarah is a clini-cal nurse III in the NorthBay ICU and Jennifer is a clinical nurse III on Unit 1800. - Ed.

After a hiatus of several months, NorthBay Hospice & Bereavement will resume support group meetings in July.

The Veteran Men’s Grief Support Group and Adult Grief Support Group both meet on Thursdays starting July 2, and the Journey Through Grief series resumes on Tuesdays, beginning July 7. Classes meet at the North-Bay Bereavement Center, 4520 Business Center Drive, Suite 110 in Fairfield.

All attendees must reserve a spot to attend a group and there are new safety protocols in place, includ-ing a temperature check, social distancing and mask-ing, among others. These protocols will be explained to callers when making a reservation, according to Brenda Boyd, office assistant for NorthBay Hospice.

To make a reservation, call (707) 646-3517.

Bike to Work PostponedBereavement Groups to Meet AgainSolano County’s annual Bike to Work

Day, which usually takes place every May, has been postponed until Sept. 24, due to the pandemic.

According to bicycling enthusiast Pat-rick Garner, R.N., who wrote a bicycling blog for NorthBay Healthcare for many years, the cancellation ironically comes at a time when bicycling is more popular than ever.

“Cycling has seen the greatest resur-gence in a generation,” he said.

Group rides are not safe right now, he says, but hopes he will be able to schedule some once it is safe to do so. In the meantime, if you have bicycle safety questions, contact him at pgar-ner@northbay.org.

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