Unsung Health Heroes battling the COVID-19 Pandemic
As the Coronavirus pandemic has changed the world as we know it so has the term “hero.” Our frontline staff are truly the heroes of today as they face the COVID-19 war day in and day out. #NevvonHeroes recognizes the hardships and sacrifices our heroes face daily. There are also many heroes in positions of leadership within our industry. CEOs, home care agency owners and care planners alike are battling this pandemic too. We would like to thank them all for their hard work in this battle. Every so often, #NevvonHeroes will be featuring a different hero in our weekly blog and newsletter.
Today we will would like to honour Tracy Walsh, RN and Director of Nursing at Bryan Skilled Home Care in Long Island, New York. Nevvon CEO, James Cohen, sat down with Tracy to talk about how she and her team adapted to the challenges of COVID-19.
James: How long have you been running your business.
Tracy: After years of working in the medical field as RN’s, my mother and I started Bryan Skilled Home Care in April 2010. She had previously worked as an Intensive Care Nurse and I worked as an Emergency Room Nurse.
James: How have you been impacted by COVID-19 and how have your employees been impacted.
Tracy: This has been a particularly challenging time for our business. Not only have we learned how to run the business remotely, but we also had to quickly educate our staff, field employees, patients and their families on how to best protect themselves from COVID-19. Other difficulties we have faced have been obtaining and distributing PPE’s as well as managing payroll and funds. However, the most difficult challenge has been consoling our employees, our patients and their families.
James: What strategies are you using to cope through this Pandemic.
Tracy: It has been an “all hands on deck” approach. We are working remotely through multiple daily meetings in order to ensure patient coverage, daily employee communications, patient satisfaction, and maintain staff morale. Remote Inservice through Nevvon’s program and the daily HCP updates have kept us up to date on the COVID-19 Pandemic.
James: What have you learned about your business and its resilience to adjusting to unprecedented circumstances.
Tracy: Our employees, whether in the office or in the field are working tirelessly to give our patients the best possible care through this trying time. We are truly overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from our home care family. It has been my observation that of all the health care choices, home care has really provided a safe haven for our patients.
