Issue link: https://blog.providence.org/i/1427942
Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center Fall 2021 Providence Health System Southern California 3345 Michelson Drive, Suite 100 Irvine, CA 92612 Providence.org/SaintJoseph facebook.com/ProvidenceSaintJoseph The medical information contained in this newsletter should not be substituted for advice from your personal physician. NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE P A I D TORRANCE, CA. PERMIT # 89 If you do not wish to receive future issues of this publication, please call 855-747-2247 and leave your name and complete address as it appears on the mailing panel. ON THE COVER (FROM LEFT): Leading the emergency department staff are Executive Director Debbie Buffham, RN; Medical Director Celina Barba- Simic, MD; and Nursing Manager Bailey Wojcik, RN. The new emergency department (ED) was under construction when the pandemic hit. How did you make the necessary changes? Dr. Barba-Simic: We used this incredible opportunity to review the construction plans through the lens of the current pandemic. We were able to increase the number of negative pressure rooms, review patient flow inside the ED and improve outside waiting areas. Buffham: We worked together to align with the developing information, the executive leadership team and the architect. Dr. Barba-Simic has been instrumental in leading the way, to ensure we are providing a safe environment for our patients and the caregivers in our current ED, and we frequently reviewed the plans and discussed the best options. She is an expert in emergency medicine and an incredible advocate for our community. How will the new emergency department empower you to care for the community? Wojcik: Time is tissue in so many emergencies (heart attack, stroke, sepsis). With our new ED, we will be able to care more quickly for these patients. Having the CT scan in the ED will save precious moments that matter for stroke patients. We will also be able to provide more timely care and decrease the number of patients in the waiting room as we go from 24 beds currently to 44 in the new ED. Buffham: The new ED is designed to empower caregivers to provide the most efficient and timely care to our patients in need. We designed a more efficient triage area to minimize a backlog of patients in need of our care. We have rooms designed to keep our behavioral health patients safe from harm and cared for in a dignified manner while minimizing disruption to other patients. In every phase, we focused on caregiver satisfaction and the patient experience as much as we could with the footprint we were provided. We are so blessed to be part of this new ED, made possible by generous community philanthropy. For more information or to make a donation, call 818-847-4673 or visit Providence.org/supportsaintjoseph. An Emergency Department for the Future