>> Every day, we make a commitment to keep you safe,
and we take that commitment very seriously.
That's why I wanted to update you personally on the steps we are taking
in ensuring the safety of everyone in our community.
>> The absolute primary priority is to make sure that we do everything we can to make sure
that patients are as safe as possible and make sure that our staff is as safe as possible.
>> We're being very aggressive in terms of what we do to try to make sure that it's safe.
So, as part of our preoperative screening, every patient that comes in is getting tested
for COVID antibodies, getting a chest x-ray as part of their screening,
and getting oxygen levels in their blood checked
with a pulse oximeter that'll just go on their finger.
Every patient is getting a viral swab, and we'll have the results
of those viral swabs before we take patients into the operating room.
Everybody in the hospital, patients and staff, will be wearing masks.
We have all of the personal protective equipment that we need.
>> When I came in, the checks were super efficient.
The preprotocol is amazing.
I feel like HSS has gone above and beyond in handling it,
especially with MyHSS, the app on your phone, or the website.
They have tons of checks.
I already did the prescan already.
It just makes me feel assured that I'm in a safe place prior to going into surgery.
I am personally looking forward to the most just getting back to healthy lifestyle
where I could go hike, you know, no pain.
Could go for a run, feel no pain.
That's really the goal.
I play a lot of golf, so I definitely want to get back to being 100% playing that.
>> My hip started to hurt me.
In the middle of May, I called HSS.
I spoke with Lauren.
She said, "Yeah.
The doctor's seeing people again."
I came in, I told him about my situation.
My daughter is getting married on August 8th.
I said, "I want to be able to dance at my daughter's wedding."
Denise calls.
She says, "All right.
I got you in for June 11th," and I stayed in the hospital for one night.
I went home the next day, and then I did the physical therapy,
you know, on the computer with people.
They were with me for the whole hour each time, and it was great.
I was talking to a guy like I'm speaking with you, and he would say, "Okay.
Go ahead and walk," and he'd watch me.
And, "Okay, well try this and try that."
It ended up being great.
>> Really, the critical feature is that we've done so much work to try
to understand the environment that we're now in, this new normal,
and how to optimize it to make it safe for patients.
We've limited our visitor policy, so people are not just going to recovery rooms
and walking through the hospital.
It's much more restrictive now, but that's in a good way because it's much better
for the patients, to help protect everybody.
So, there's a lot that we're doing to actually make it safer.
>> I think that we will not only continue to do the things that we've done in the past
to protect people from infections, but we've implemented several other things
to make sure the patients are as safe as possible.
And, that includes extensive terminal cleaning of the entire hospital.
>> Well, a terminal clean simply means that all horizontal and vertical surfaces,
including high touch areas in the patient rooms
and restrooms, are completely cleaned and sanitized.
All light switches, all the bed tables, night stands,
all doorknobs, door handles, drawer handles.
>> Okay. So, you're going to work this way.
>> Okay.
>> You should meet each other and continue.
Anything that she wiped, you should wipe.
>> How it's different is that we ensure two-step process.
First of all, we fog the area or electrostatic spray it with our germicidal solution.
We let it sit the proper dwell time, and now we're ready
for our complete and terminal cleaning.
>> After we clean it, we're doing swab testing on high touch surfaces
to make sure that there's no viral load.
So, we will have an incredibly clean hospital.
>> Low infection rates, that's part of our DNA.
That's what we do here.
That's what we're known for here.
We know how to manage this stuff.
If you look at the way our operating rooms are set up, we have HEPA filtered clean air
that comes into the room, down onto the patients, and then out through the sides
through special vents in the sides of our operating rooms.
The way we prepare the patient beforehand and during surgery.
The way that we prepare ourselves for surgery.
That's all part of what we do all the time.
That's not changing now, and if you look at what we're doing to make sure
that the hospital is prepared and the hospital is cleaned,
we're doing more now than we've ever done.
So, I think people can be comfortable that, you know, this is something we understand.
This is something that we do all the time, and we're taking it very seriously.
So, I think patients can be comforted by that.
>> I think what we want to make sure is that when they do come here,
they have the 100% confidence that they're coming to the safest, cleanest hospital.
The other thing that I think consumers recognize is that they've increased confidence
in a hospital like ours that has the lowest complications within our field,
the lowest infection rate within our field,
and in a hospital that solely specializes in a certain field.
And, I think those are the three benefits that we have as an institution that are things
that have made us successful in the past and will continue to make us successful in the future
and help us navigate through this for our patients and for the hospital.