In Good Company - A publication of Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Centers
Issue link: https://blog.providence.org/i/1470470
Safety for our Community and Caregivers When the four th wave of COVID-19 hit in late 2021, both South Bay ministries were fully prepared to accommodate an increase in bed capacity, if needed. Therefore, when Los Angeles County health officials approached us to ser ve as a surge medical center, we responded to the call and our San Pedro ministr y stepped up to meet this need. We are proud of the way our San Pedro ministr y physicians and caregivers embraced this challenge as an L A County COVID surge medical center. With exper tise led by Anita Sircar, MD, an infectious disease physician, along with our ICU intensivists and hospitalists, we have remained on the forefront of treatment for our COVID-19 patients. As we entered 2021, our ministries opened vaccine clinics for the community and our caregivers. So far, we have administered nearly 40,000 vaccines. We are also proud of our caregivers and medical staff for leading the way in achieving these high vaccination rates to protect each other, our patients, and the communities we ser ve. Both ministries continue to follow all county and state mandates on visitor restrictions, masking, and social distancing. However, we continue to provide compassionate exceptions as appropriate and are grateful for our Chief Mission Integration Officer, Jennifer Kozakowski, and her team who continue to help the care team in making these decisions and facilitating these impor tant communications with the families. Improving our Knowledge Our Chief Mission Integration Officer, Jennifer Kozakowski, completed her Master of Ar ts in Health Care Mission Leadership with an emphasis in Ethics and Theology at the Neiswanger Institute of Bioethics & Healthcare Leadership at Loyola University, Chicago. Jennifer already holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, a Master of Nursing (Administration), and a Master of Public Health Ser vices Management all from UCL A. Knowing how impor tant ethics and theology is to her current role, she took on this additional course of study. She brings much to our work and our mission here in the South Bay and we congratulate her on this achievement. COVID vaccination rates for South Bay ministry medical staff and caregivers: • San Pedro caregivers: 92.2% • San Pedro medical staff: 99.8% • Torrance caregivers: 92.7% • Torrance medical staff: 99.4% Miles Shaw, MD receives his vaccine. Jim Schar ffenberger, MD assisting at the vaccine clinic. 27 strENGtHEN tHE COrE