When COVID-19 arrived in the United States,
little was known about this novel coronavirus.
But one thing was clear: Few were prepared for what was to come.
Meanwhile in Chicago,
where the virus was just a few short weeks from arriving,
Rush University Medical Center was preparing for the worst
and hoping for the best.
Tonight, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
estimates that if the coronavirus outbreak
becomes very severe, about 38 million Americans
will need medical care.
If our numbers
continue to increase, and we don't contain,
and as a society, we don't mitigate the course
that this has spread, then we won't have enough beds.
The virus can only travel about 3 to 4 feet.
And so by staying 6 feet away from people,
you reduce the risk that you could acquire the infection.
We also have the ability to double up on beds,
which would pretty much double our capacity to take care
of patients with coronavirus.
At the end of the day, no one will critique us
as a nation if we over-prepare.
And as Americans look
to infectious disease experts, Rush leaned into its mission
of health education to sound the alarm.
♪ Scrub them all together ♪
You do want to give your kids information
and you want to do it in a very calm way.
Social distancing
actually works, and it is our best defense right now
against this rising epidemic in our country.
Despite the warning signs and calls to action,
the virus still threatened to overwhelm
the city of Chicago's hospitals.
By the second week of March,
it was clear that Chicago's hospitals were about to face
a first surge of patients.
But Rush University Medical Center was uniquely positioned
to lead through the pandemic.
Simple protocols
like these are just the beginning of what this hospital
has done to handle COVID-19.
You're looking at a 14-story facility,
specifically outfitted for a pandemic years before
it ever hit.
Thanks to the foresight of Rush leadership,
many of the challenges that hindered the
coronavirus response across the country never materialized.
Our ICU here is a well-oiled machine.
We're used to seeing high-acuity, very sick people.
He's a young gentleman
whose wife is at home with their toddler and she can't even
be here with him.
Brady treats critical COVID-19 patients
that need ventilators to stay alive.
This is not made up. We're very busy.
These patients are very sick.
Preparation and thought leadership
put Rush on the national stage.
With experts across multiple disciplines,
lending their voice to the fight against COVID-19
and consequently reassuring a distressed public.
You had to come up with
real hardcore critical thinking and innovation.
God, it showed a lot of strength.
And when it got tough, we got tougher.
The sequence for donning PPE:
putting on your CAPR belt, isolation gown,
followed by your CAPR respirator, your gloves.
We had a 20% above the national average
in saving patients with VV ECMO, which is
a specialized form of ECMO for supporting the lungs.
We were at Rush University Medical Center
when the fifth Illinois coronavirus case was confirmed.
To keep our staff safe, to keep our patients safe as well.
So that. Dr. Paul Casey treated him.
That's Dr. Casey on the left
in the coronavirus patient's room. He used a tablet
to conference in an infectious disease expert.
As the surge sustained from days,
into weeks, and months,
the city's most vulnerable populations found themselves
suffering the hardest impact of the virus.
And Rush, bolstered by its Anchor mission and commitment
to bettering the West Side of Chicago, went to work.
There needs to be
a strategic effort to reach out
and address health disparities in the country.
We were getting calls from family members who had
just dropped off their loved ones in the ER,
and they had no idea what was happening
to the family members.
They knew that they didn't speak English.
And so then just that added distress.
We didn't hit that point where there was really
a free sharing of information around what's the best thing,
the path that needs to work for our city so that we can
be sure that if a patient who was sitting
at Jackson Park Hospital,
that they had equal opportunity to get to whatever hospital
would be able to take care of them.
Rush University Medical Center
will split $5 million from Winfrey's foundation.
Look for organizations that were going to have
their hands directly in the community.
In many ways,
the fight against COVID-19 embodied Rush's commitment
to the health and well-being of Chicago.
There are hospitals like Rush, just as one example,
that have really converted their entire hospital
into a COVID-19 hospital.
They got ready for an onslaught.
In mid-May, the state of Illinois
lifted its moratorium on elective surgeries and Rush began
to welcome patients back, this time with a new message:
"Don't delay your care. Rush is here for you."
It's by the grace of God that I'm actually here today
because I shouldn't be.
If I had waited any longer, I would not be here.
I know that my safety
is their number one concern, and so it doesn't
have to be my concern.
Phase three trials with the new
Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine could begin in Chicago
in the coming days. And now Rush University Medicine,
Cook County Hospital, and Northwestern Medicine
are all looking for a diverse group of volunteers.
There is a signal that it can work.
COVID-19 is still very real,
but the impact of Rush University Medical Center
also remains with calm and preparedness that is felt
throughout the hospital as patients and families
embrace an unknown future.
But with confidence, that Rush is here providing
a national model for safe, quality care.
I'm seeing them recover on ventilation,
on just almost near death.
And they're walking out of here. That gives me so much hope.
Just want to say thank you.