CEO provides hospital brief
Grand Lake Health System President and CEO Cindy Berning provided an update with the ongoings of the hospital Wednesday afternoon, and reviewed the timeline of how the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic during the St. Marys Rotary Club meeting.
Berning, a Maria Stein native, took over as president and CEO in December 2020 following the departure of Kevin Harlan as CEO in September.
A licensed CPA, Berning got her start at Siefring and Associates in St. Marys before going to work at the hospital in 2000.
After working as the chief financial officer for Mercer Health for a few years, Berning returned to the hospital in 2011.
During her presentation, Berning provided Rotarians a timeline of how the hospital operated as the coronavirus was beginning to expand into Ohio.
“The governor issued the state of emergency on March 9 and that prompted us to initiate our hospital incident command system although we had already been watching it closely weeks and months prior to that,” said Berning, adding that the hospital began preparing for a large influx of patients based on forecast models they were watching.
The external triage tent went up in the emergency department parking lot shortly after.
Berning said they set up remote connections to allow employees to work from home where possible and implemented its telemedicine program as well, which has been utilized 4,200 times to date.
Berning explained that the hospital converted its ambulatory surgery unit into a contained COVID unit within a few days after Gov. Mike DeWine announced new health orders.
“We had our COVID unit set up and then we waited. And we waited,” she said. “We waited for that surge to come and it didn’t, thank goodness. We stayed within the zero to two COVID in-patients for several months and when elective surgeries were allowed, we converted that ASU unit back to a fully operating surgical unit, leaving us the four isolation rooms — which based on our previous history, was plenty at the time to take for the COVID in-patients at the time.”
As flu season approached, coupled with COVID, the hospital planned for increased volumes of patients.
“On Nov. 1, we were experiencing our largest COVID inpatient day up to that date at six patients. For the first time during the pandemic, that was the first day we
exceeded our volume of four isolation rooms. We had to think of Plan B,” Berning said. “A team went to work very quickly to come up with an alternate solution and on Nov. 13 we temporarily closed our (transitional care unit) which is on our sixth floor, converting our nine skilled beds on that unit to medical beds. This became our dedicated COVID and respiratory patient unit.”
Berning said the capacity for COVID inpatients grew to 18 and the hospital reached full capacity a week after.
“Thankfully that surge was short lived. It decreased shortly after Thanksgiving,” she said. “We waited to return that TCU back to the skilled-nursing beds until we knew that we were in the safe zone after flu season.”
Entrenched in a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, Berning said they learned a lot throughout.
“The importance of teamwork and reliance on each other I think was No. 1,” she said. “How efficient our team could be.”
“We developed new ways to deliver care effectively and productively. Our advanced practitioners — we had several that were quarantined
and during that time they were able to provide care by telemedicine which kept them productive and help relieved some of the pressure on our office volumes.”
Berning said the hospital first received COVID-19 vaccine doses in December of last year which become available to the public in January. Since the initial offering, the hospital has given more than 11,000 doses of the vaccine.
When asked about the low vaccination rate in the county, Berning said Grand Lake Health has been try to combat some inaccuracies surround the shot.
“[We] try to combat some of the inaccuracies that were being portrayed on social media. It’s difficult. People are on Facebook or Instagram and they take a lot of that as factual,” she said. “It’s difficult to change a mind after they have already made up their mind. But we continue to encourage — and with the Delta variant increasing — I think the majority of what we’re seeing nationwide is the Delta variant and so far the conversation is that those who are vaccinated have a very good protection against the Delta variant. Those currently being impacted, I believe, are
mostly the unvaccinated. It’s difficult. Until you actually experience it or have a family member who has a terrible outcome from COVID, sometimes until you personally experience it, it won’t change an opinion.”
Berning thanked the community for its support throughout the pandemic.
“From handmade masks that were donated, to donations to be used for employee meals, [we are] so, so very thankful,” she said. “I think the event that really touched us all in terms of community support was the Light Up The Night for Heroes event that was held in December.”
The event took place at the hospital on Dec. 16, with 33 emergency vehicles participating. It was organized and planned by students at St. Marys West Intermediate School and hospital staff.
“It was just amazing and I think by many, it was considered the highlight of their career so we were very thankful for that support,” she said.