» Part II

By Mary O’KEEFE

Keith Hobbs, CEO of USC Verdugo Hills Hospital, spoke to CVW about what the hospital staff has been facing during the COVID-19 pandemic and how they have been working with patients, with colleagues and with other hospitals. Last week Hobbs explained how he and his staff prepared for the pandemic as they heard about the first cases of the coronavirus in China, before the first case was reported in the U.S. He also shared how he and his staff are working together to face as a team this pandemic, sharing information not only with each other but also with other hospitals.

Several hospitals across the nation have reported the lack of PPE [personal protective equipment].

“We’ve gotten more and more companies moving into the PPE space not only in the United States but around the world,” Hobbs said. “We did start to see a spike in pricing at one point, but we are starting to see those numbers come back down. Like every hospital, our allocation from the [LA] County’s emergency supply and the federal emergency supply is coming in. They’ve really been able to help us curtail the need to compete against other hospitals for specific PPE.”

Hobbs added that, unlike the East Coast that got hit early on with a large number of COVID-19 cases and had to struggle and compete to get the protective equipment needed, the West Coast saw cases a little later and had more time to better plan and prepare.

Good communication has been essential and USC-VHH has a strong line of communication with other hospitals in the area.

“The three hospitals [USC-VHH, Dignity Health-Glendale Memorial and Adventist Health-Glendale] have a text group chat between just the three of us so we are in constant contact with one other. When we see a new trend hit our city we are typically on a chat with each other a couple of times a day just to keep each other informed. It has been a wonderful partnership with the three hospitals in Glendale,” Hobbs said.

Though the partnership among the three hospitals was already in effect this group chat with the CEOs is more pandemic specific. In the past, the staff of the three hospitals worked together on several initiatives, including Healthy Glendale. Glendale Healthier Community Coalition plans and implements projects that promote disease prevention, health education, clean and safe environments, adequate housing, affordable and quality education, and community revitalization, according to the organization’s mission statement.

Because the hospitals had a history of working together the texts among the CEOs seemed a natural way of sharing the latest information with each other.

USC-VHH has been one of the few hospitals that releases the numbers of COVID-19 cases it has treated and reports the number of people who tested positive and negative along with how many people have been hospitalized due to COVID-19.

“Our approach very early was to create a communication strategy so that the community could stay current on what we were dealing with around this pandemic virus. We wanted to create a communication plan that had enough information to keep folks informed while maintaining the privacy of the patient,” Hobbs said.

He and his staff developed that communication plan in early March and, so far, it has been well received by the local community.

“We have been able to create an environment of transparency not only outward facing but inward facing with our staff and our medical staff,” he added. “It has worked well.”

Staff members meet twice a day to discuss how they are currently handling the pandemic and for the last few weeks have been planning what life will look like post-pandemic. They will begin to look at how they will be implementing those plans.

“There are things that we have learned through this particular time in life that we might be able use down the road for other pandemics or other things that occur,” he said.

Hobbs is a part of the Crescenta Valley community; he is a CV High School graduate and has participated in and supported many community events. He and his family are doing well, even with the added pressure and hours he now logs.

“A friend of mine told me sleep is overrated so I can share that I am sleeping less but, given the impact that our hospital can have on the community, we want to be there for them,” he said.

  Mary Okeefe