COVID-19.
That’s all we know right now. This is a crisis health care providers have never seen before—and hopefully will never see again in our lifetimes.
Working with the NJ Department of Health, SMC has been gearing up for an expected increase of COVID-19 patients through the next several weeks.
I want to thank our team—our physicians, our nurses, our first responders, our ancillaries such as respiratory therapists, radiology technologists, laboratory technicians, our rehab specialists, and our unit clerks. I want to thank our non-clinical staff—registration, materials, HR, accounting, dietary, environmental services, facilities, IT, security, central supply, home health & hospice, health information management, switchboard, and our physician practices. A special thank you to our nursing directors and management leaders—everyone here has risen to meet this unprecedented challenge A heartfelt thank you to all for your commitment and compassion—what you bring to our community every day.
Our board and clinical leadership has understood the gravity of this situation early. We have been working closely for weeks with the NJ Department of Health to ensure that SMC is properly equipped to meet the needs of our community and our region. We are currently retrofitting beds for Telemetry and Negative Air Pressure rooms on both 3rd and 4th floors.
As health care professionals, we play an essential role in combatting COVID-19. So do our support staff. We really are all in this together.
With that said, the most important thing we can do for each other is to protect ourselves through the proper use of Personal Protective Equipment. By following PPE guidelines, we will be able to protect our patients, colleagues and ourselves.
These are truly extraordinary times. Together, we will get through this.
Dr. Tammy Torres
Chief Executive Officer