Transcription:
TVH Update From The CEO

Melanie Cole (Host):  Welcome to TVH Health Chat with Temecula Valley Hospital. I’m Melanie Cole and today, we’re answering questions from the community. It’s a TVH Update and joining me, is Darlene Wetton. She’s the CEO of Temecula Valley Hospital. Darlene, it’s such a pleasure to have you back on. Do you have a lot of COVID patients? How are you keeping COVID patients separate from other patients? What are you doing to protect not only the COVID patients but the providers and even other patients that have to come in for other reasons?

Darlene Wetton, RN, CEO (Guest):  So, wonderful question and I think really important for the community to understand that Temecula Valley Hospital really is set up as two separate completely separate hospitals. And in the way we’ve done that starts in the emergency room. So, there are separate areas for waiting, separate areas for care for COVID patients that’s completely separate from those without COVID symptoms. Same thing for inside the hospital. On a medical unit, we have a whole completely separate area of the hospital to care for those COVID patients that completely is walled off and completely separate in care for patients than those without COVID. And again, in the ICU, same type of setting where we’ve got a completely walled off area that’s very separate and distinct from the rest of the hospital. So, it keeps not only the patients safe but also now that we have visitors back, keeps them safe, our physicians and all of our employees, very safe setting throughout the hospital to manage this.

Host:  And speak a little bit about visitor policy. You just mentioned it briefly. Tell us about that.

Darlene:  Yeah, we felt that it was very safe to be able to return visitation on a limited basis and so we’ve done that for the past several weeks now where one visitor is allowed in to see their loved one during the hours of noon to 8 p.m. Of course in dire circumstances, when we have someone sadly passing, then we allow a little bit more extended visitation to be at the bedside should that occur. But most of the visitation is from noon to 8, also someone coming into the emergency room; it’s very scary if you have to just drop someone off in the parking lot and go in unaccompanied and now we’re allowing one visitor to come into the emergency room with their loved one as well as can wait in the waiting room if someone comes in for surgery, one visitor is allowed in the surgical waiting room during their time that their loved one may be having a surgery or a cardiac procedure here at the hospital.

Host:  thank you for that answer Darlene. And as we’re talking about keeping other patients safe, and precautions that doctors are taking when interacting with patients or COVID patients. Tell us about PPE. Do you have enough of that at this point? Is there anything that you’ve found challenging? Give us a little update.

Darlene:  Yeah, PPE is something that we started on very early. So, early in March, we began to make sure that we were secure in the amount of PPE and got the ordering in very early and so we’ve been very blessed with a tremendous supplies here that we have in storerooms here in the hospital to the extent where we actually have offsite storage of PPE. We monitor it on a daily basis to make sure how many days we have of every type of masks that we might need, gloves we might need, including things like cleaning products to keep everyone safe and so we’ve been very fortunate with the amount of PPE that we have but also keeping a close eye just in case anything changes and we have an increase in the need that we are fully prepared for any type of a change in the situation.

Host:  I heard you were treating patients from Mexico. Is that true? Tell us about it.

Darlene:  Actually that’s been a real common rumor and that’s not true. Imperial County which borders Mexico, southeast of San Diego, has had a surge of patients coming across the border from Mexico. these are American citizens that have either retired in the area or they served in the military so, there’s thousands of people that also transfer back and forth across the border for work or even for childcare if they have family down there. The country of Mexico is overwhelmed as was the county of Imperial County but no actual patients from Mexico have ever come up to this area at all. We did receive patients from Imperial County back in March, a little bit in April and May to help out with that county, but there haven’t been any transfers at Temecula Valley Hospital in the last six weeks where we’ve cared for any patients from Imperial County. But certainly if we have the need to, from any area, and we have the capacity, supplies to treat a patient; we’re always happy to do so. There’s been many patients that have come to TVH certainly from San Diego County, from Orange County, Los Angeles County, different areas of need where we’ve been more than happy to take care of the patients because we can do so safely.

Host:  As you’ve been evolving care, and things have changed in these unprecedented times; are you still going to be doing Televisits as you’re doing a reopening and things are changing a little bit. Will Televisits do you think, still be a major part of a way that doctors can interact with their patients?

Darlene:  I believe that they will, and I think that’s going to be a significant change that’s going to stay in place. Here at the hospital, we have Televisits available in all the COVID areas. So, in the ICU, on the medical unit and the emergency room; anytime that we have someone in the COVID area just to reduce the amount of exposure to the providers and to reserve that protective equipment, prevent somebody from having to go into the area frequently. If they choose to do a Televisit, they certainly can. So, we’re still using it inside the hospital and I’m also aware that many of the physicians out in the community have implemented a Televisit capability should the patients feel more comfortable doing the Televisit from their home as opposed to coming in. It certainly doesn’t replace everything and there’s always a need for that in-person care but it’s a nice safe option that I think is going to stay.

Host:  Darlene, is it true that you’ve had less heart attack and stroke patients coming in for emergency care, maybe due to the fear of COVID and isn’t time very important when you’re having a heart attack or a stroke? So, what do you want to tell people that are afraid to come in or that have been waiting several days before they come in?

Darlene:  This has been such an unfortunate subsequence of the COVID pandemic where because of misinformation, people are too afraid to come to hospitals that are very safe and when I speak about that, I would speak about any hospital in this area where if you are having chest pain or you’re having stroke symptoms; something like a slurred speech or one side of your face is drooping; if you wait days with those types of symptoms, there’s much less that we can do. There’s a saying that time is brain and so every minute that you are having a stroke, and the symptoms go by; there’s a portion of your brain cells that are dying. It’s very similar with a heart attack. The heart tissue, those are also dying because of lack of blood supply to that area. And we’ve had many patients that have gone on for three, four days with really severe chest pain before they feel safe coming in. By the time the come here, they are very, very sick and end up in the ICU where that could have been prevented if they would have come in right when the symptoms first began. So, very important message to get out to the community, how safe it is in the emergency rooms and the chest pain centers and the stroke center here at Temecula Valley Hospital. Don’t wait for those kinds of symptoms. Come in right away. We have also have other types of illnesses where individuals are waiting. Things like a cate bite or a severe cut on the leg, things that need to be stitched. Don’t wait. Those are going to become infected if you wait at home because you’re afraid of COVID and you get much sicker from those types of issues if you avoid an emergency room. So, really important that you continue to seek out emergency medical care when needed and don’t hesitate, don’t wait. It’s very safe here at the hospital.

Host:  Have you resumed doing elective surgeries? Is that safe? Speak about that for a minute.

Darlene:  We resumed doing all types of surgeries in early May. So, we’ve been doing so for about six weeks or so now very safely. All patients are tested preoperatively for COVID and then they are self-quarantined for a day or so while we wait the results before their procedure. So, we know that they are basically healthy but still in need of that hip surgery, that knee surgery, things they’ve postponed and so we’ve been very safely conducting surgeries for several weeks now. There was a lot of individuals that were waiting, that had been injured or had something occur to them in February or March and so they’ve been in pain for quite a bit of time so, when people say it’s elective, it is elective but it’s still a very needed surgery to wait for orthopedic surgery that long or other types of surgery, vascular surgery, another example, so we’re really pleased to get those patients back in, get those scheduled and safely done. So, same thing with a lot of the cardiac procedures. Individuals that needed to have a cardiac angiogram had waited because they didn’t feel comfortable and so those patients are also now all coming back in for their cardiac cath procedures.

Host:  So, one of the things that’s going on right now Darlene, all over the place, there are a lot of rumors that are spreading on social media. Tell the listeners and the community of Temecula Valley Hospital, what you would like them to know about rumors and how they know what the truth is and obviously, we’re giving quality, factual information here at TVH Health Chat because it’s direct from the hospital. But when they see other things, how do they know what’s the truth?

Darlene:  One of the things that I found to be very helpful is a lot of the public websites. Riverside County public health has a very nice website which gives accurate information related to COVID and questions. The hospital website has a lot of information. I would also refer anybody to the hospital website regarding what’s happening because there are a lot of inaccuracies on social media. One Temecula Valley’s website, there’s a section there where you can ask the CEO and when somebody goes onto that website, I receive an email letting me know that someone has a question and I really appreciate individuals reach out to me personally and I’ll personally respond and answer those questions or refer individuals to a website if I don’t have the information that they are requesting. Also the Center for Disease Control, CDC is another good source of information. So, thing are changing rapidly. There’s inaccurate information as a result of that. And you can’t always rely on social media, in fact, rarely you can. So, I would really encourage individuals to use those expert websites and ask those important questions and get the factual information.

Host:  Well thank you for that very good answer. And now, I saw that you had another Leap Frog A award. Tell us what that means.

Darlene:  Yeah Leap Frog is a National Survey indication of the quality of the hospital and the safety of the hospital. The gradings are on an A through F basis so, A of course is the highest grading that a hospital can receive. And I’m proud to have the seventh A grading for Temecula Valley Hospital in the seven years that we’ve been open. So, very proud of the quality and safety that we provide especially during a serious pandemic to be able to share that with the community that this is one of the safest hospitals in the nation.

Host:  As we wrap up, how are you helping your patients remain calm and manage the emotional challenges of this pandemic and the strains of isolation, what you’d like the community to know about helping and what you’re doing at Temecula Valley Hospital to keep the community safe?

Darlene:  I think one of the things this community has done really well is to stay engaged and stay involved. And the donations for the hospital have been tremendous. We’ve had food and supplies and very caring individuals that have reached out to the hospital staff to really make a difference here and I think that makes people feel like they’re involved and they’re helping their community hospital. And we really appreciate that. So, please continue to do that. That helps the morale here of the hospital because this is certainly not a sprint marathon and it’s becoming a long marathon. So, we continue to need that support. I know people like to feel like they are making a difference.

Another important way to make a difference in the community is to donate blood. If you are healthy and you are able to do that, there are many community donation centers. You can go on the Red Cross website and find out about opportunities to donate blood. It’s very similar to how people have avoided emergency rooms, they’ve also avoided blood donation centers. So, there’s a shortage of blood and that’s going to become more and more severe. So, it’s another way to give back and help your community is to donate blood. It makes a big difference.

Host:  It certainly does. Thank you so much Darlene for joining us today and updating us on what Temecula Valley Hospital is doing to keep the community safe. Thank you again. That wraps up this episode of TVH Health Chat with Temecula Valley Hospital. Please visit our website at www.temeculavalleyhospital.com for more information and the latest updates. Please also remember to subscribe, rate and review this podcast and all the other Temecula Valley Hospital podcasts. Physicians are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of Temecula Valley Hospital. The hospital shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians. I’m Melanie Cole.