Respiratory Therapists Front and Center for Fight Against COVID-19

Respiratory Therapists at work

While everyone’s life has been impacted in one way or another by the COVID-19 pandemic, JPS Health Network respiratory therapists find themselves front and center in the battle against a disease that causes those hardest hit to struggle for every breath.

“Our therapists do such an amazing job every day,” said Rob Welborne, Clinical Manager of the Respiratory Therapy Department. “They’ve been called upon to work long hours and handle the intense pressure, day after day, week after week, that COVID’s demanded. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Welborne said therapists spend hours a day in the COVID unit, monitoring patients and administering care. They work 12 hour shifts for days on a row, often three or four days on followed by one brief day off, then back to work for three or four more days.

Therapist Juliana Hernandez said, while the hours are still long and the work is just as tough and heartbreaking, things are getting better in terms of what can be done for patients.

“We were very good at the way we cared for respiratory patients before the pandemic,” Hernandez said. “But here comes COVID, and now it’s tough because we’re trying to manage a disease and we really know very little about it.”

Our therapists do such an amazing job every day. They’ve been called upon to work long hours and handle the intense pressure, day after day, week after week, that COVID’s demanded. I couldn’t be more proud of them.

In addition to working long days, therapists had to leave their uncomfortable protective gear on for hours at a time. They never knew when they would be called into a room because of medical emergency, and when that happened they couldn’t afford the precious time it took to don their protective gear before rushing into a room to revive a patient whose heart stopped beating.

Hernandez said strategies and medications to battle COVID have emerged. But there’s no vaccination yet. Still, she said it’s at least encouraging that there are have been some medicines approved and treatment plans developed to give therapists some tools to use in their efforts to assist patients.

As procedures have evolved and equipment has become available, other challenges have arisen. Some team members have become ill with the virus, including one serious enough to miss several weeks of work. Another therapist had to worry from afar as her father became seriously ill with COVID, isolated in a hospital in Lubbock as she worked with patients suffering similar symptoms in Fort Worth.

Irma Torres said both of her parents were infected over the summer and her mother was able to recover quickly. Her father, however, ended up intubated in the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital 270 miles away.

“Because COVID patients have to be isolated, we work really hard at JPS with connecting them with their families, calling them every day to make sure they know what’s going on,” Torres said. “I expected that was going to happen with my dad… But it didn’t. It has really given me an appreciation for how much it means to our patients and our families to give them that personal care.”

Torres said it’s frustrating to hear about people who refuse to wear a mask or who continue to gather at parties or other events.

“My parents live in a small town and didn’t do anything besides go to the grocery store when they had to,” Torres said. “They’re the last people you’d ever think would get it. This disease is definitely something to be taken seriously.”

When things were at their worst for her father, Torres said she found it difficult not to be reminded of her fear and sadness about his condition. But she said, while there is no end to the pandemic in sight, therapists can’t afford to let their guard down. They all have to work together to make sure team members are getting the support they need to give patients the best care possible.

“They offered to take me off of the COVID Unit,” Torres said of her supervisors when her father was at his sickest. “But if I didn’t do it, I knew someone else was going to have to pick up those shifts. Everybody’s working so hard now. That wasn’t fair to them, so I wanted to keep doing my share.”

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JPS, Team Members Finalists for D CEO Excellence in Healthcare Awards

September 21, 2020/in JPS in the News ceo excellence in healthcare, ceo excellence in healthcare awards, change in healthcare systems, city leaders and community, city leaders and community organizations, community organizations provides multidisciplinary, community organizations provides multidisciplinary insight, create change in healthcare, create change in healthcare systems, d ceo, d ceo excellence, d ceo excellence in healthcare, excellence in healthcare, excellence in healthcare awards, healthcare systems that positively impacts, leaders and community organizations, leaders and community organizations provides, organizations provides multidisciplinary insight, variety of city leaders, work together with purpose /by jortega

JPS, Team Members Finalists for D CEO Excellence in Healthcare Awards

Excellence in Healthcare Awards

JPS Health Network and two of its team members are finalists for prestigious D CEO Magazine Excellence in Healthcare awards.

“This is a great accomplishment, as the competition this year was especially tough,” Will Maddox,
Managing Editor of D CEO Magazine said in a release. “All finalists will be recognized in a special feature in the December issue of D CEO, at dmagazine.com, D CEO Healthcare, and at an exclusive event later this year.”

As a whole, JPS is one of four finalists in the category of Outstanding Health System. The local recognition comes following the announcement over the summer that the health network was rated the number one hospital in the country by Washington Monthly Magazine using a ranking system created in conjunction with the Lown Institute.

“I’m so proud of each and every member of our team,” said Robert Earley, President and CEO of JPS. “Not one of our 7,200 team members comes to work every day for the purpose of trying to win awards. They do it because they care about the health of the people of Tarrant County. But, especially in the trying times of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s tremendously gratifying to know their efforts are being noticed.”

Partnering with a variety of city leaders and community organizations provides multidisciplinary insight into ways we can work together with purpose; to create change in healthcare systems that positively impacts the lives of the communities we all serve.

Two JPS leaders have been recognized individually.

Mary Ann Contreras, Manager of Violence and Injury Prevention is a finalist in the category of Outstanding Healthcare Advocate while Devon Armstrong, Director of Care Management, Outpatient, is a finalist in the Outstanding Health System Innovator group.

Contreras has worked tirelessly to create programs and policies to identify and assist people who are the victims of intimate partner violence and human trafficking. Her initiatives have helped create a way out of their otherwise hopeless situations by allowing patients to discretely ask for the help they need and then providing them with support and resources patients need to be successful in regaining their independence.

“I am grateful for the honor to be named as a finalist for the D CEO Healthcare Advocacy award,” Contreras said. “Partnering with a variety of city leaders and community organizations provides multidisciplinary insight into ways we can work together with purpose; to create change in healthcare systems that positively impacts the lives of the communities we all serve.”

Armstrong rose to the tremendous challenge COVID-19 has presented, leading the effort to create a home monitoring program for patients infected which included the delivery of supplemental oxygen to their residences. Armstrong’s efforts not only freed up beds inside the hospital for the sickest patients, but it also allowed less critical patients the opportunity to recover in the comfort of their home.

“I’m totally shocked,” Armstrong said of learning she was nominated for the award and a finalist to receive it. “It totally caught me off guard. COVID has been a rollercoaster for all of us. The thing that has kept me going day in and day out is that I never lost sight of the value of our care to the patients. That’s what kept me grounded. This has been the most rewarding year I’ve spent at JPS, which is odd because the pandemic has made it the toughest.”

Armstrong said she hopes the things JPS has learned about remote COVID care will help it to provide a broader range of at-home care for people with other types of health concerns long after COVID-19 is over.

The date and location of the seventh annual D CEO Excellence in Healthcare Awards ceremony has not yet been announced. More information will be coming soon.

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Sanders, Wong Wrap up More than 80 Years of Work at JPS

August 19, 2020/in JPS in the News director of nursing, director of nursing support, director of nursing support services, health network, jps, nursing support services, patient care, patient care services, president of patient, president of patient care, president of patient care services, sanders, sanders wong wrap, time, trudy sanders, vice president, vice president of patient, vice president of patient care, wong, work at jps /by jortega

Sanders, Wong Wrap up More than 80 Years of Work at JPS

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Sanders, Wong Wrap up More than 80 Years of Work at JPS

More than 80 Years of Work at JPS

A pair of veteran nurses will take more than 80 years of experience with them as they walk out the doors of JPS and into well-deserved retirement.

It’s a bittersweet time for Trudy Sanders, Vice President of Patient Care Services, and Lily Wong, Director of Nursing Support Services, as they leave behind jobs they love, colleagues they’ve worked alongside for decades to help build JPS into what it is today, and countless team members they’ve helped to develop to lead the health network into the future.

“Trudy Sanders and Lily Wong will be missed not only because they’re people we’ve counted on every day for four decades, but because they embody the JPS spirit,” said President and CEO Robert Earley. “While it’s difficult to say goodbye, we’re grateful that they’ve made this place so much better than how they found it, raising the bar for the people who will follow them.”

Executive Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Wanda Peebles she’s tried to put off thinking about JPS without the veteran nurses.

“Trudy and Lily have both been instrumental and critical parts of JPS,” Peebles said. “It will be a major loss with both of them leaving. I can’t imagine this organization without Trudy. I don’t think we’re going to truly know all of what she did until she’s gone for a little while. She had her hand in so many things without bringing attention to herself. We may fill the job, but we’ll never be able to replace Trudy Sanders.

Peebles said Wong was always willing to lend a hand wherever she was needed, and she had the respect of her peers and protégés because of it.

“Lily has been such an advocate for our nurses, and so supportive to me personally and professionally,” Peebles said. “When she had an assignment, you never had to worry that it was going to be done. She had the historical perspective to remind us who we are and where we came from, as well as the nursing background to get us where we were going. That knowledge base is going to be something we’ll really miss.”

It’s about helping people grow.

But both nurses turned executives said they’re confident the health network and its patients are in extremely capable hands – and that they wouldn’t leave if they didn’t believe that. They’re looking forward to passing the torch to the next generation of leaders.

“When I started, I was in my early 20s and I had a nurse I worked with who was 35,” Wong remembered. “I thought that was so old back then. I couldn’t imagine still being in the same place I was when I got to be her age. But I found my job to be very rewarding, and feeling like I made a difference in people’s lives made me change my mind and realize I was the place I was supposed to be.”

Sanders, who plans to retire at a yet-to-be determined time in the near future, has worked at JPS since 1977 – if you don’t count the part time work she did as a student the year before. Wong, whose last day was July 31, began her career at the health network in 1981.

While it took Wong a little while to figure out JPS was the place for her, it took Sanders exactly one day.

“The summer before I was supposed to graduate, another student and I were going to go down to work at a hospital in Houston with plans to see what that was like,” Sanders said. “We went to some apartments where it was recommended we could live, and it was horrible. The traffic was horrible, too, plus it was so hot. We knew right away it wasn’t for us. We drove down to Houston and came back home that same day. I think my mother was in shock when she heard the door open and saw me standing there. But it was not meant to be. I’m sure glad things worked out the way they did.”

Sanders, who is from the Fort Worth area, said JPS was a natural fit for her. She was eager to work in the Intensive Care Unit where she could learn all kinds of things as quickly as possible. Her appetite to learn served Sanders well, soon she was asked to help train her colleagues on new equipment as it arrived, her first step up the ladder of growth.

Starting as a staff nurse, her titles included Clinical Patient Care Coordinator, Supervisor and then Director of the Special Care Area, Director of Medical Nursing, Senior Director of Critical Care and Nursing Administration, Patient Safety Officer and, finally, Vice President of Patient Care Services.

“People ask me sometimes if I regret that I only worked at one place and didn’t try anything else,” Sanders said. “I always tell them, I’ve had lots of different jobs, they’ve just all been at JPS.”

Wong started across the JPS campus from Sanders, working as a nurse in Behavioral Health.

“I started in 1981 part time working in the hospital, then at the end of 1981 they had an opening on the psych floor, so I started working there,” Wong said. “I did that from 1982 all the way until 2010.”

Wong became Nursing Director in Behavioral Health in 1993 and her presence became an integral part of the department.

“I started about the same time as Trinity Springs opened so I always tell people I came with the building,” Wong said. “I’m sort of the butler, I know every inch of that place: where everything is and how everything in the place works.”

In 2010, Wong moved to Community Health where she became the administrative director of nursing for a year and a half. But she went back to working inpatient services a year later as Director of Nursing Support Services where she finished out her career.

“When I started, I never thought I would end up staying 39 years,” Wong said. “But I never left because it was a really rewarding place to be. Working in Psych is really a challenge. Every day we had something new and every year we grew. I’m grateful to have worked with some wonderful staff.”

Wong said she’s spent a lot of time over the past decade thinking about the future after she left JPS.

“Working here is about taking care of patients,” Wong said. “But to do our job to the best of our ability, we have to work on building relationships and helping each other grow. I had a person I looked up to who told me we look to our mentors to show us the good things we need to do and that we should share those things with others. But sometimes we also learn the wrong things to do from them, and we need to keep those things to ourselves.”

Sanders said she isn’t yet sure what she plans to do with her retirement, other than to have more time for her twin passions: running and biking and as well as spending more time in support of organizations like the Campfire Girls.

“It’s going to be different, but I am open to the next chapter,” Sanders said. “When you come someplace for almost 43 years, it’s going to be a big change. I like being in the halls and saying hello to people here. That’s what I’ll miss most.”

Wong said she’s looking forward to hanging her dress clothes in the closet for good and spending her time in jeans and T-shirts.

“My husband told me that I’ve given my time and my brain power to JPS for nearly 40 years,” Wong said. “Now, he says, I belong to him.”

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JPS Named Top Hospital in America by Washington Monthly

July 7, 2020/in JPS in the News access to a hospital, care, care welcomes all comers, contributes to the larger health, health of the community, high-quality care welcomes, high-quality care welcomes all comers, hospital that provides, hospital that provides high-quality, hospital that provides high-quality care, hospitals, insurance status and contributes, larger health of the community, provides high-quality care, provides high-quality care welcomes, status and contributes, washington monthly, wealth and insurance, wealth and insurance status, welcomes all comers /by jortega

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JPS Named Top Hospital in America by Washington Monthly

covid-19

JPS Health Network was named the best hospital in the United States, according to a new hospital evaluating system unveiled Tuesday by Washington Monthly Magazine. Ranking near the top of every category, it out-scored the most prestigious healthcare organizations in America.

You might ask yourself, “how is it possible for a public safety-net hospital to out-rank the finest private hospitals across the United States?”

“What Americans should be asking is, why can’t more hospitals be like JPS?” Washington Monthly countered in explaining its findings. “Shouldn’t every person in this country have access to a hospital that provides high-quality care, welcomes all comers regardless of wealth and insurance status, and contributes to the larger health of the community?”

Shouldn’t every person in this country have access to a hospital that provides high-quality care, welcomes all comers regardless of wealth and insurance status, and contributes to the larger health of the community?

Using a formula ten years in the making, the magazine — in conjunction with the Lown Institute — has created a new ranking system designed to identify hospitals that not only offer the best high-end care. It also valued ones that effectively and efficiently provide healthcare for at-need populations that don’t have insurance or financial resources for medical assistance and serve as leaders in their communities. JPS received high marks in every category of the evaluation.

“The people who come to work at JPS every day don’t get up in the morning hoping to win awards or accolades,” said health network President and CEO Robert Earley. “They come here because they’re dedicated to providing the best care they can to the people of Tarrant County, regardless of their social or economic status. This recognition belongs to our team of 7,200 of the most dedicated people you could ever meet who make sure every day that the people of our community get the care they need and they deserve.”

In an era when hospitals struggle financially to survive as they battle a global pandemic, the publishers of the magazine said JPS is a shining example of how a health care institution can be most responsible to the communities they serve and effective in the care they provide.

“We and the Lown Institute are confident that our new rankings reveal important realities about the performance of the nation’s hospitals,” editors of Washington Monthly explained. “We also believe that they set a better standard for what we should expect from our hospitals than any other system out there.”

According to the magazine, hospitals that do well in other ranking formulas excel at lucrative specialized treatments and procedures. They would better serve their community if they offered more comprehensive care to all who need it, as JPS does.

“Imagine, however, if hospitals were motivated to rise in our rankings,” the editors wrote. “They would compete to bring in patients from all levels of society, not just the well insured. They would find ways to get their staffs to stop performing unnecessary procedures and tests. They would try to reduce the pay differential between hospital workers and chief executives. And they would put more of their earnings into improving the conditions that affect the health of their communities. If more hospitals had done these things before the pandemic, how many Americans might have been in healthier shape to fend off the virus, or survive if they did get it?”

JPS ranked in the top one percent of hospitals in civic leadership, in the top 10 percent in avoiding over-use of low-value care and the top 17 percent for quality of care.

“It sets the standard, in our estimation, of what a great hospital should be,” according to Washington Monthly.

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Oxygen Program Saves 1,200 Nights of Hospital Stays for JPS COVID Patients

June 30, 2020/in JPS in the News blood oxygen, blood oxygen level, collaboration and coming together, covid patients, covid units, health network, management to the medical, management to the medical staff, medical staff to third-party, medical staff to third-party vendors, oxygen, oxygen level, oxygen program, patients, real team effort, required a real team, required a real team effort, staff to third-party, staff to third-party vendors, together for a good cause /by jortega

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Oxygen Program Saves 1,200 Nights of Hospital Stays for JPS COVID Patients

covid-19

One of the toughest parts of being a COVID-19 patient, besides being sick, is being stuck in a hospital room away from your family and friends for a lengthy period of time as you recover.

JPS Health Network leaders have found a way to get patients back home earlier – or in some cases keep them out of the hospital altogether – as they return to health. By sending patients home with an oxygen supply and monitoring their blood oxygen level through the day, not only are patients more comfortable, but 1,200 days of inpatient stays have been avoided, opening hospital beds for patients who need them.

“There are multiple benefits of getting people home as soon as possible,” Dr. Steven Davis, pulmonary/critical care physician and Senior Physician Executive of Internal Medicine at JPS said about the JPS COVID-19 Home Monitoring Program. “Visitors are not being allowed in our COVID units and the caregivers there are dressed in enhanced personal protective equipment. So, there is a lot of isolation both physical and emotional. On the other end of the spectrum, there is a financial component. Lengthy stays at the hospital are expensive, so this is a cost effective way for patients to get the care they need.”

Currently, JPS has about 80 patients staying in the hospital’s COVID units, about 30 people are at home on the oxygen program. At a time when the demand for COVID beds has nearly doubled in a matter of two weeks, the new initiative has increased the number of available beds by more than one-third.

From Case Management, to the medical staff, to third-party vendors, this is something that required a real team effort. Collaboration and coming together for a good cause, it’s what we do best.

As COVID patients recover, Davis said the last thing they need to be able to be on their own again is a little bit of a boost of oxygen. While sending them home with oxygen and monitoring equipment might sound like a simple idea, working out the logistics was much more complicated, he said.

“We learned early on that people with COVID were going to need oxygen for a while,” Davis said. “There were those who didn’t need much oxygen to keep from being admitted to the hospital and those with the only thing keeping them in hospital was they still needed a little oxygen. The problem was their blood oxygen had to be 88 percent or lower to get their oxygen paid for (by insurance.) That’s a problem because 88 percent is getting low enough where you might not have a lot of reserve beneath that before their condition starts to plummet.”

Davis credited the JPS Finance Department with doing a fantastic job in negotiating with insurers and suppliers to secure oxygen for patients with up to a 94 percent blood oxygen level.

“The reason we were able to make this work was because of the collaborative culture at JPS,” said Rory McCrady, Vice President of Revenue Cycle at the health network. We started out with a concept that this was a way to address an urgent need due to a rise in the demands caused by the pandemic. When I got the request, the question was how do we get mobilized?”

McCrady and the finance team worked with oxygen vendors and insurance companies to come up with a plan that helped all the contributors more efficiently and effectively help patients. They then pre-stocked needed oxygen tanks and carts, pulse oximeters and other supplies. While there was some upfront cost, it has more than been offset by the savings realized from having patients in their home instead of a hospital bed.

Dr. Nadia Alawi, Vice Chief-Primary Care Operations, said it was gratifying to see so many people come together for the good of patients.

“From Case Management, to the medical staff, to third-party vendors, this is something that required a real team effort,” Alawi said. “Collaboration and coming together for a good cause, it’s what we do best.”

When they’re set up in their home, patients are contacted at least three times a day to monitor their condition.

“There are so many contacts with patients that if their oxygen needs start to go up, we have a chance to catch it and they’re admitted before things get out of hand,” Davis said. “Since this program started, we’ve had to admit several people. But we did it safely because we have a mechanism to catch people if their condition begins to worsen.”

Davis said the program, only about two weeks old, has worked so well that it will certainly be around to help patients in need of oxygen because of other reasons long after COVID-19 is in the past.

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JPS Health Network, Lockheed Martin Partner in COVID-19 Response

May 21, 2020/in JPS in the News, Press Releases allow jps, care, county, covid-19, fort worth, health, health network, jps, jps health, jps health network, lockheed, lockheed martin, martin, network, patients, press release, remote monitoring, specialty care, tarrant, tarrant county /by jortega

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JPS Health Network, Lockheed Martin Partner in COVID-19 Response

Official Press Release

FORT WORTH, Texas (May 21, 2020) – Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), a leader in aerospace innovation, is partnering with JPS Health Network to leverage the use of technology to combat the spread of COVID-19 and its long-term effects on vulnerable and financially at-risk populations in Tarrant County.

Through a $500,000 Lockheed Martin grant to the JPS Foundation, which seeks philanthropic support for clinical care, research and training at JPS, the health system will move to expand telehealth services to include specialty care kiosks in neighborhood health centers and remote monitoring for COVID-19 positive patients whose condition can be managed from home.

“COVID-19 has brought into sharp focus the need for healthcare to maximize technology to serve all patient communities, from veterans and the working poor to people experiencing homelessness,” said JPS President and CEO Robert Earley. “Telehealth is the medical world’s answer to social distancing. Lockheed Martin’s generous gift will allow JPS to adopt methods of care that keep our patients and our team members safe.”

“Lockheed Martin and our nearly 20,000 Fort Worth employees are committed to helping our neighbors in need and supporting those fighting this pandemic on the frontlines,” said Michele Evans, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. “Through these challenging times, JPS Health Network has not wavered in providing quality medical care to all, regardless of their ability to pay. With this gift, Lockheed Martin is proud to contribute to our shared goals of doing what’s right and protecting the communities we call home.”

Providing access to telehealth visits with specialists from kiosks at neighborhood clinics will not only decrease the need for patients to travel to the main campus, but it will help those patients without smart phones get needed specialty care. The kiosks also will cut down on excessive or non-essential trips to the emergency room.

The development of a remote monitoring program would allow JPS to track the vital signs of COVID-19 patients who are discharged to finish their overall recovery at home.

“Investing in innovation that protects our community is what Lockheed Martin does,” said Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley. “I am grateful for the company’s support of the vital work our public healthcare system does every day to protect the health of Tarrant County residents.”

Press Release

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Despite COVID-19, the JPS Oncology and Infusion Team is Always Ready

April 28, 2020/in JPS in the News break rooms, ghabach, infusion, infusion center, infusion room, infusion team, jps, jps oncology, jps oncology and infusion, local business, oncology, oncology and infusion, oncology and infusion center, oncology and infusion team, patients, patients to know, people, social distancing, team, team members /by jortega

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Despite COVID-19, the JPS Oncology and Infusion Team is Always Ready

JPS Oncology and Infusion Team is Always Ready

While it seems the world is preoccupied with the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors, nurses, and team members at the JPS Oncology and Infusion Center still have a job to do.

Time is of the essence, and their work waits for nothing. Patients who can’t wait for the virus to be defeated before they fight back against cancer in their bodies can still count on getting the care they need, according to Dr. Bassam Ghabach, Medical Director of the Oncology and Infusion Center.

“We’re reviewing every patient’s case and, if someone’s treatment is non-essential, we can postpone it,” Ghabach said. “But, for most people, that’s not possible. The infusion room is as busy as ever. We may be doing things a little bit differently, but we’re making sure people get the care they need.”

While the number of patients treated hasn’t changed, Ghabach said the way they are treated has. Some infusion chairs have been moved out of the infusion room into other spaces – some of them offices vacated by employees sent to work from home, others in break rooms and meeting rooms – to create social distancing buffers. Chemotherapy patients have weakened immune systems that make them vulnerable to COVID-19, so, to limit the number of times they have to leave the house, all their appointments and treatments are scheduled back-to-back instead of scattered across the month. To keep patients from having to go to the grocery store, Ghabach said the Oncology and Infusion Center has even teamed with a food bank to put together some boxes of non-perishable food to send home with people.

“Whenever possible, we’re doing a lot of telehealth meetings as opposed to face-to-face visits,” according to Ghabach. “About 70 percent of our visits are via telehealth. Things are working differently than usual. But we’re not delaying any referrals that are coming to us. At the very least, we are calling the stable patients to reassure them that we’re working on their case and they’re not being delayed or forgotten. We want all of our patients to know that we will continue to be here for them.”

We want all of our patients to know that we will continue to be here for them.

Wendy Reimers, a patient who was at the Oncology and Infusion Center Wednesday for chemotherapy, said her delicate condition has required her to be in quarantine since September. So, she’s very grateful to see all the precautions JPS is taking to protect her – and that she can still get her treatments despite the fact that the outside world seems to be shut down by the pandemic.

“I love these people,” Reimers said. “I really do. Every one of them are wonderful. They’re all so caring. These nurses have a special something that I know I don’t have. I actually look forward to coming here for chemotherapy. Not only because it’s the only time I get out of the house, but everyone here is so nice to me.”

The extra care the Oncology and Infusion team provides to patients happens beyond the infusion room, even beyond the walls of JPS. Ghabach said cancer care providers isolate themselves from their family members when they’re at home to try to make sure they’re not exposed to COVID-19. At work, team members aren’t able to make individual food orders from area restaurants as they normally would for lunch. They need to keep frontline screeners from having contact with any more people than necessary, which includes delivery drivers. With their break rooms off limits because of social distancing, on most days they have no way to eat a hot meal.

“It’s difficult sometimes,” Ghabach said. “But these are the things we have to do right now to keep our patients safe.”

In recent days, a local business purchased meals from an area restaurant for Oncology and Infusion Center team members, prearranging with JPS Volunteer Services to give the workers a rare treat while supporting another local business. The cancer team has also been treated to a meal donated by a local church and another from Tarrant County Commissioner Roy Brooks.

Velma Rangel, Administrative Assistant at the Oncology and Infusion Center, said team members were very touched by the gestures.

“It’s so nice to know that people appreciate what we’re doing and that we’re here for them,” Rangel said. “The team here has helped so many people over the years, so I don’t know if the people who donated had a family member or friend who we helped with cancer, or if it’s just their way of saying they’re glad we’re here. But we’re glad to be remembered and to be a part of this community.”

Ghabach said Oncology and Infusion team members are committed to continuing to find ways to take care of cancer patients through the pandemic and beyond.

“Although things are a little bit different now, we’re able to do everything we need to do,” Ghabach said. “The only thing that is a problem is when we have to deliver news to patients about what they’re facing. We want to be in the room with the patient to look them in the eye and hold their hand. Our patients are important to us, so it’s hard to have those conversations over the phone.”

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Keeping Team Members and the Community in the Know

April 6, 2020/in JPS in the News earley, families with lives, families with lives and fears, fears and hopes…, information, jps, lives and fears, lives and fears and hopes…, lose sight, numbers, numbers rise, numbers rise and fall, patients, patients and their families, real people…, recording, rise and fall, share, team, team members /by jortega

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Keeping Team Members and the Community in the Know

Answering a call for more information about the community’s current health crisis, JPS Health Network has created a COVID-19 information line accessible to both healthcare workers and the public.

Starting today, information will be available on a recording updated daily at 10 a.m. In an email to staff, JPS President and CEO Robert Earley said the recording will include information about the number of JPS patients who have tested positive for COVID-19.

“JPS is reporting this information already to various agencies and we’re required to share it in public inquiries,” Earley said. “I want to make sure it’s also available to you, whenever you need it. There’s comfort in knowing the facts, and knowing what our teams are dealing with each day.”

People can access the information by calling 817-702-9500 (or 29500 internally) to hear the recorded message.

Behind the numbers we share are real people… patients and their families with lives and fears and hopes… and we should not lose sight of that as those numbers rise and fall.

While the information may be at times difficult to hear, Earley said it is important to remember that dedicated JPS team members are responding to the challenge daily, working long, sometimes difficult hours to give compassionate care to every person who comes through the doors in need of help.

“The recording may not answer every question you have, but I hope you see it as a big step to keep us all informed,” Earley said. “I want to remind everyone that behind the numbers we share are real people… patients and their families with lives and fears and hopes… and we should not lose sight of that as those numbers rise and fall.”

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Screening Tent: Another Tool to Help JPS Fight Spread of COVID-19

March 20, 2020/in JPS in the News challenging situation, covid-19, director of emergency, emergency, emergency department, emergency management, jps, members, people, prepare, prepared, risen to the challenge, screening, screening process, screening tent, situation, team, team members, tent, well prepared /by manjunath

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Screening Tent: Another Tool to Help JPS Fight Spread of COVID-19

JPS team members have worked night and day to prepare for the COVID-19 virus.

While a lot has gone on behind the scenes, the most visible part of their preparation is a big, orange tent that appeared Friday outside of the main entrance to the Patient Pavilion.

Lance Lynch, Director of Emergency Management said the temporary structure is a “screening tent” where people coming to the hospital who raise red flags during the COVID-19 screening process can be taken for further analysis by a healthcare provider.

“In the tent, they’ll visit with a provider either in person or in a telehealth situation through an iPad to determine if they need to go inside for further treatment or if they’ll go home,” Lynch said. “It should take about 15 minutes once they’re inside the tent. It will be very quick.”

Chris Cook, Manager of the Emergency Department, said putting these plans in place required team members from all over the health network to pitch in.

This is a challenging situation. But our people have risen to the challenge. I believe we are very well prepared to do our jobs.

“It took a lot of work from a lot of people to get to this point, a great team effort,” Cook said, mentioning Emergency Department team members who brainstormed and planned, nurses who work screening stations and maintenance workers who had to remove benches and install traffic barricades to set up the screening process. “This is a challenging situation. But our people have risen to the challenge. I believe we are very well prepared to do our jobs.”

Jesse DeWaard, Executive Director of Emergency Services and Emergency Management, said JPS leaders prepare for unusual circumstances regularly, drilling for everything from natural disasters to emergencies like the COVID-19 outbreak. He said the practice has paid off.

“It builds confidence to practice and I have all the confidence in our team,” DeWaard said. “This is what we prepared for. So, it’s very inspiring to see everyone jump into action.”

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Care Coordinators put Patients, Surgeons in Position to Succeed

January 15, 2020/in JPS in the News care, care coordinator, care coordinators, complex to manage, coordinators, dekleva, job, jps, limited or time, patient, patient care, patient care coordinator, patient care coordinators, patients, patients with limited, patients with limited or time, phone calls, surgeons, surgery, time /by manjunath

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Care Coordinators put Patients, Surgeons in Position to Succeed

opc or schedulers

Patients never see their faces. But they play a key role in helping people who need surgery get care at JPS Health Network.

Called patient care coordinators, their job is what the title implies: They’re responsible for choreographing the complicated ballet of making about 1,000 surgeries a month fit into the 13 operating rooms at JPS.

“Their work is invaluable,” said Dr. Carlos Rodriguez, a general surgeon who operates at JPS. “We literally could not operate without their assistance. They are constantly juggling the operative schedule to allow for optimal utilization of time. It’s a demanding job and they handle it skillfully.”

Rodriguez said he is grateful for the small group of nurses who work inside an out of the way office on the second floor of the Outpatient Clinic Building. They play a vital role in making sure people who need surgery get taken care of as soon as possible and, by handling all details large and small, they allow surgeons to focus on the big job of fixing bodies.

Coordinators are constantly getting surgery orders from the doctors they assist. They have to act quickly to keep the schedule moving. Then they have to check back on the cases repeatedly, making sure pre-op procedures are being handled on time.

“There are a lot of things that factor into it when surgeries are scheduled,” said patient care coordinator Teresa Dekleva. “It’s not just filling up the time slots. There are a lot of phone calls that happen to make sure everything that needs to be done before their surgery gets handled when it’s supposed to be done.”

Not only do the surgical suite hours and the schedules of surgeons have to agree, Dekleva said patient care coordinators have to check all the boxes to make sure patients have had all their required testing and preparation for their operation. That can include making sure they have someone in place to help care for them afterwards if they’re not going to be able to take care of themselves, that their financial arrangements are taken care of, even that they still want to get the procedure and plan to show up at the agreed to appointment.

It’s really complex to manage so many surgeons and so many patients with limited OR time

When any of the items on the pre-surgery to-do list don’t get taken care of and an operation is postponed, that’s not only wasted time. It’s a lost opportunity to help someone else. So the patient care coordinators have to make sure all the puzzle pieces fit together just right.

“The patient care coordinators work magic by finding or creating time in the schedule to get patients treated sooner,” said Dr. Fayette Williams, Division of Maxillofacial Oncology & Reconstructive Surgery Director at JPS. “It’s really complex to manage so many surgeons and so many patients with limited OR time but they always manage to make things happen.”

Cases range from only minutes for some eye operations to 13-14 hours straight for a surgery Williams performs to remove a patient’s tibia, turn the straight bone into a horseshoe shape with a series of precise cuts, and use it to replace their lower jawbone.

How do the patient care coordinators anticipate all the needs of surgeons and requirements of patients before they can have an operation? The answer is simple: Through experience. And lots of it.

“I’ve been a nurse for 33 years,” Dekleva said. “I worked at Parkland Hospital in Dallas in labor and delivery and in the operating room. I worked overseas in a primary care setting, working with everyone from adults to infants.”

She came to JPS working in IV sedation and Orthopedics. After three decades as a nurse, she was ready for a change. Once she made the switch, Dekleva said she never looked back. Becoming a patient care coordinator has rejuvenated her career.

“It might seem like a boring job because there is a lot of looking at computer screens and there are a lot of phone calls,” Dekleva said. “But you can tell in the patient’s voice how grateful they are for the help. Knowing that you helped them get the care they needed, that’s what makes me feel good about my job.”