Good afternoon. This is Paul Casey. I'm the chief medical officer at Rush University Medical
Center, and I just want to provide a quick update in terms of where we stand, here at
Rush University Medical Center as well as across the country, when it comes to coronavirus.
So I think most importantly, we have been seeing more cases of coronavirus as you've
likely heard here at Rush University Medical Center. Also across the system at our partner
hospitals, Rush Oak Park and Rush Copley. And we expect that to continue. We're going
to see more cases, more sick patients as we have to this point. The important thing is
the pace at which we're seeing that rise in cases. And I will say we're encouraged by
some of the early data showing that the steps that we put into place, the mitigation steps
that were put into place both locally here at Rush as well as at the state level, seem
to be having an impact in terms of slowing the rise of those cases.
So what's happened in many cities throughout the world is the cases rose so quickly that
they soon outpaced the ability of the health care system to really take care of those patients.
It was too many beds, too many ventilators required, and just really too many patients
for the given number of beds in a single city or in a single hospital. So we are encouraged
looking at the daily numbers that we follow closely that because of those mitigation steps,
we're continuing to see a rise but at a slower pace than has been experienced in a lot of
other cities throughout the world. And that will really help us in our ability to take
care of patients as they come into Rush. And I think it's important as well — we've tried
to always stay a step or two ahead of this, and I think we've been successful to this
point in trying to grow into some of those surge operations.
So you've likely seen throughout the Medical Center some of the examples of that — our forward
triage in the ambulance bay where patients with influenza-like symptoms are separated
off through the ambulance bay and we really are seeing people in an efficient manner there.
You've likely seen the Brennan Pavilion, where we've added additional capacity to try
to offload the Emergency Department in the case that we continue to see more cases coming
through the Emergency Department. There's been the growth in inpatient beds as well.
We stood up a new intensive care unit, which is really an incredible effort to be able
to stand that up. And we did it in relative short order with an incredible team. So I
also want to touch base on our PPE as I know that's a question that's come up frequently
as I've rounded on the floors. And what I can tell you with confidence is
that we are actually in very good shape in terms of our PPE. And that's really thanks
to the leaders in our supply chain. What worked day and night, making sure not just that we're
monitoring the PPE use throughout the Medical Center, but also taking every opportunity
to procure more PPE, whether that's through the state, through our local government as
well, or through different partners and vendors that we have. So they've really done an outstanding
job in doing that. We're continuing to follow the guidance of the CDC as well as the Illinois
Department of Public Health and the Chicago Department of Public Health in terms of the
type of PPE, in terms of where we are deploying PPE as well. So on that front we're watching
everything closely. I appreciate all the feedback that we've gotten around that.
And again we are, we are confident that we have the PPE not just to keep staff safe for
tomorrow but to keep them safe in the weeks and months ahead. Because that's the really
critical piece here is that we want to make sure that we continue to protect staff. Eearing
some of the stories coming out of other hospitals that are running short, we never want that
to happen for our staff here at Rush. So something where we're really laser focused on ensuring.
And then the final piece I'd like to talk about is just how inspired I am and how inspired
I think everyone is by the teams that have come together in this effort. It's really
been incredible walking through our new 5 Atrium ICU, which was our old surgical
intensive care unit, seeing a team come together that had not worked together before and even
with residents from different departments, it was inspiring to see the way that they
flawlessly were able to take patients into that unit, take care of those patients under
the guidance of Dr. Balk as well, who's just an outstanding critical care and nationally
renowned physician in his field as well.
So I think we're seeing examples of that everywhere throughout the Medical Center. I see it when
I walk around the Emergency Department, I see it when I walk around our COVID units
up in the Tower, to see it in our ICUs as well. So it's really inspiring that I think, understandably,
this is a time of a lot of uncertainty and a lot of anxiety as we know cases are going
to continue to build. But the one thing that we can really rely on is teams coming together
here at Rush and starting to see that really turn into action and people just taking care
of sick patients like we always have. So I just want to thank everyone for their efforts.
It's really, it's impressive. It's inspiring and we'll continue to do that I hope in the
weeks and months to come. Thanks.