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6.17.20

NorthBay TakesTesting Expertiseto Senior Centers

…Check My NorthBay, Your Employee Portal, for News in

Real Tim

e…

NorthBay CaresThrough COVID-19

See CHAOS, Page 13

INSIDE

New Hires 2Retirement Plans 3Safety Saves Honors 6New Uniforms 7The Great Escape 8

Young Artist’s Gift— Page 10

Surviving a Week of Utter Chaos

See EXPERTISE, Page 14

Summer is nearly here and COVID-19 is not going away any time soon. How will you make your summer sparkle despite the stress of COVID-19? FYI wants to know all of the creative, inspiring, funny and touching ways you plan to keep your family busy, connected and motivated. Email your story to DBarney@NorthBay.org.

Please Share Your Summer-in-Shelter Strategy

Who could imagine that in the middle of a global pandemic, while NorthBay Healthcare kept its steady focus on delivering care to patients, that Solano County would be beset with power outages, fires, a helicopter crash, looting and curfews, all over the course of a week?

It started on Monday, June 1, when shopping centers and retail outlets in both Fairfield and Va-caville were attacked by hordes of looters. Just down the street from NorthBay Medical Center, a large group commandeered and drove a forklift through the win-

In a single day, Mary Jameson, two Urgent Care nurse practitioners and several medical colleagues from other agencies administered more than 200 COVID-19 tests to residents and staff at Vacaville Convalescent and Reha-bilitation Care.

The point of the exercise on May 19 was to determine any infection, but also to teach staff at the care facility how to do the same, so they could carry out subsequent surveillance testing, explained Mary, NorthBay Healthcare’s director of primary care, urgent care and the Center for Women’s Health.

The idea came after reports of a major outbreak in a Vallejo skilled nursing facility, said Wayne Gietz, vice president of Ambulatory Services, who wanted to cre-ate a pathway to bring surveillance testing directly to nursing homes in the community — to give them the

Clinical Lab Scientist Wilhelmina Cenizal shows off the BioFire Analyzer.

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TO REMEMBERDATES

IN THE NEWSPEOPLE

LETTERS

DATES

PEOPLE

NEW FACESWELCOMEWELCOME

LETTERS

Melinda Powell

Robert BakerManager, Rehabilitation ServicesOutpatient Physical TherapyCenter for Orthopedics

Gene Andrew CarterSecurity Officer II, SecurityNorthBay Medical Center

Dominique DavisEnvironmental Services AideEnvironmental ServicesNorthBay Medical Center

Briana Di SalvoUnit Clerk/Monitor TechnicianIntensive Care Unit, NorthBay Medical Center

Iziegbe GarubaNurse PractitionerPalliative Care ProgramNorthBay Medical Center Annex

Rodolfo GonzalezStationary Engineer IPlant MaintenanceVacaValley Hospital

Erica GrayPharmacy InternPharmacy, NorthBay Medical Center

Tomeka LoftonPatient Account Rep. IPatient AccountingGreen Valley Adminstration Center

Kyle MillsSecurity Officer I, SecurityVacaValley Hospital

Kent MohattSecurity Officer IISecurity, NorthBay Medical Center

Trudi MusquizEnvironmental Services AideEnvironmental ServicesNorthBay Medical Center

Darryl PowellHospital EngineerPlant MaintenanceNorthBay Medical Center

Erika SimsPatient Services Rep.Call CenterHilborn Administration Center

Pratibha SunderPharmacy Tech IIPharmacyNorthBay Medical Center

Marc Higgins has joined North-Bay Healthcare as senior director of Supply Chain.

“Marc has more than 20 years of hospital supply chain experi-ence, most recently as the system director of Supply Chain Management with Community Medical Cen-ters in Fresno and Clovis,” according to Theo Rallis, interim vice president, Finance/CFO.

“Before that, Marc spent 11 years as an area sup-ply chain director with St. Joseph Health, covering Eureka and Fortuna hospitals.”

Marc is a LEAN Green Belt and earned his bache-lor’s degree in management, with minors in technical management and computer studies, from the Univer-sity of Maryland.

Marc’s office is at Green Valley Administration Center and he can be reached at ext. 3151.

Melinda Powell, R.N., has joined NorthBay Health-care as its new manager of Infection Prevention.

“Melinda has more than 10 years of experience in infection prevention, with her most recent position at U.C. Davis. She has also held the position of nursing instructor for Unitek Col-lege in Sacramento,” noted Heather Resseger, director of the Quality Divi-sion.

Melinda assumes the position from Kris Ball, who was serving as Interim Infection Prevention manager. Her office is located in the Hilborn Administration Center.

“The Quality Division is very excited to have Melinda as part of our team and part of the NorthBay family,” Heather said.

New Leader Takes Reins ofSupply Chain

Marc Higgins

Infection PreventionHas a New Manager

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See AVP, Page 4

Watching the broad smile on her face, it’s hard to tell what is bringing more joy to Rhonda Martin’s life these days. Is it knowing that she and husband, Lew, are just days from spending the summer kayaking on or hik-ing around a beloved Tennessee River? Or is it the joy she feels when reflecting on an amazing career that spanned the coasts and allowed her to be involved in nearly every major event in NorthBay’s history during the past two decades?

“I have so many good memo-ries of NorthBay, have developed so many deep relationships here, and have felt so fortunate to have been a part of this,” Rhonda said. “Leaving will be hard, very bittersweet.”

Aimee Brewer, president of NorthBay Healthcare Group, agreed. “It is with sadness, but also immense gratitude — mixed emotions — that we had to an-nounce Rhonda’s retirment,” she said. “She concludes an incred-ible 21-year career at NorthBay, having made a profound impact on our organization over the last two decades.”

Rhonda, assistant vice presi-dent and campus administrator at VacaValley Hospital, retires from NorthBay Healthcare on June 26, and will be on a plane the very next day to Tennessee, where she and Lew will realize a long-hoped-for dream — to spend an entire summer at their home there, enjoying hiking trails, water sports and virtual visits with children, grandchildren and sisters who live in Georgia and Florida. International travel plans and in-person visits with family members will have to wait a bit longer, she noted, as the COVID-19 crisis hopefully wanes.

But, they’re not giving up their Vacaville roots, she explains. “We’re not relocating, we love California!”

That wasn’t how she and Lew, a retired Lt. Colonel with the U.S. Air Force, felt at first, when the Martins were transferred to Tra-vis in 1996 after being based in Japan for three years. “We came here kicking and screaming, but pretty soon fell in love with it. Because we had new assign-ments every three or five years, I never had the luxury of stay-ing in one place very long,” she recalled. “But once we got here, we said we had to figure out a way to stay permanently, and we managed to make that happen.”

That transfer also brought Rhonda to NorthBay in 1999, after a stint at Partnership Health Plan, where she had been work-ing as a quality manager/coordi-nator.

“Diane Irby (retired director of Medical Staff Relations) of-fered me my first job at NorthBay and once I got here, she said, ‘Oh, and The Joint Commission is

coming,’” Rhonda laughed.Rhonda’s nursing career began

after she graduated from Pensac-ola Junior College. She worked as a NICU nurse in Florida before becoming a NICU assistant head nurse in Kansas. She went on to receive a bachelor’s degree from Graceland University in Iowa and, later, a master’s from Gonzaga University. When in Japan, she was a GS12 government employ-ee for the U.S. Air Force, serving as medical/legal liaison for the Japan Medical Group.

Rhonda admitted she loves seeking out new and challenging assignments, and her career at NorthBay provided many chances to do just that.

“I’ve been given the oppor-tunity to soar. I’ve worked in utilization review, medical staff-ing and clinical support services, served as the acute care services director, interim periop services director, and pioneered the first-ever assistant vice president po-sition for NorthBay and am now the first campus administrator at

AVP Decides It’s Time for Retirement

Rhonda Martin has had a part in many major developments at NorthBay over the years, including having a hand in landscaping improvements at VacaValley Hospital.

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Rhonda Martin and husband Lew plan to spend a lot of time on the lake in Tennessee.

Share Your Rhonda Stories

VacaValley Hospital. The only places I haven’t worked is in the ICU, Women and Children’s Services or the Emergency Department,” she said.

She is very proud to have been a part of many signifi-cant NorthBay milestones during the past 20 years, includ-ing NorthBay’s efforts to achieve its Trauma Designation, to establish the neuroscience center, the physical growth and expansion, and the coveted Magnet designation, as well as serving on the leadership team that created the NorthBay Way and its value-based management principals of the Four Cs — Caring, Communication, Collaboration and Compe-tence.

“On my arrival to NorthBay, Rhonda and I quickly collabo-rated to lead the Nursing team,” recalls Traci Duncan, vice president and chief nursing officer, “and with her expertise and experience here, the partnership was invaluable. I’m so excited for Rhonda to take on new adventures in her next chapter and I know she will be watching over nursing, wher-ever she goes.”

But now it’s time for that next chapter and Rhonda’s smile widens further at the thought of what lies ahead — garden-ing, hiking, paddleboarding, spending time with grandbabies and friends.

“Who knows? The sky’s the limit and we’re going to live every moment. This has been a wonderful 21 years,” she beams. “I will always have NorthBay in my heart.”

“We will miss Rhonda’s presence on a daily basis, but wish her much happiness, adventure, grandkid time and some well-deserved relaxation in her next chapter of life,” Aimee added.

Aimee Brewer and Traci Duncan would like to send Rhonda off with some grand memories during social distancing times.

“Please send your stories, mem-ories, pictures to share to Brenda Roerden at broerden@northbay.org by June 23rd so she can compile them for Rhonda to enjoy for years to come.”

AVP Decides It’s Time to Retire ... (From Page 3)

Congratulations are in order for Shauna Felgen-treff, winner of the May #HealthTipTuesday drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card.

Shauna works in Revenue Cycle Management at NorthBay Healthcare and says she isn’t sure how she’ll spend the card but since she’s a regular Ama-zon shopper, she doesn’t think she’ll have any prob-lems!

You could be the next #HealthTipTuesday draw-ing winner. Just comment on and share a June #HealthTipTuesday post on the NorthBay Facebook Page (Facebook.com/NorthBayHealthcare) to be automatically entered in the drawing. The contest is open to all Facebook followers, including employees. Comment. Share. Win!

Revenue Cycle Payor Wins#HealthTipTuesday Prize

Shauna Felgentreff shows off her Amazon gift card.

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Retirement Parade Celebrates Nurse SueNorthBay VacaValley nurses

from the 1 West Unit found a sweet way to say “happy re-tirement” to fellow nurse Sue Anderson on Friday May 29: a parade and gifts, including flow-ers delivered by the Vacaville Fire Department.

The group of well-wishers gathered around the corner from Sue’s home, decorated their cars with balloons and signs and then made their way down the street as Sue waved and shouted thank-yous, and invited everyone in for cupcakes.

Photos posted on the North-Bay Facebook page after the event garnered even more well wishes from her colleagues.

Nurses from 1 West at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital pose with their signs in advance of their drive-by parade for retir-ing nurse Sue Anderson in Vacaville. Sue was treated to flowers and a visit from the Vacaville Fire Department (below) as part of the retirement parade event.

Nurse Sue Anderson, R.N., (at right) waves to passing well-wishers who celebrated her retire-

ment with a drive-by parade, complete with deco-rated vehicles, honking horns and signs wishing

her a fond farewell.

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Safety Corner

Five Honored for Their Safety Saves

By Scott DawsonNorthBay Healthcare staff

continued to excel during the month of May by identifying and reporting near-miss safety events through the SAFETY SAVES cards and through the RIR (Risk Identi-fication Reporting) system.

A near-miss in health care is an event that might have result-ed in harm but the error or risk did not reach the patient because of timely intervention by health care providers or the patient or family, or due to good fortune.

NorthBay often refers to these as “Safety Saves.” Near-miss re-porting equips us to improve our healthcare system and prevent harm to future patients.

NorthBay’s High Reliability Organization (HRO) Committee members review submissions and vote to select top submitters for the month.

Monthly selectees are awarded with a NorthBay Patient Safety Hydroflask. All submissions are highly valuable, appreciated and often lead to improvement.

For May, the following North-Bay staff were recognized:

Shelley Avila, R.N., a clini-cal nurse supervisor on 1 West at VacaValley Hospital, added patient DNR identification that was missing.

Suzann Gourieux, R.N., VacaValley Hospital Surgery, cleaned and equipped an operat-ing room that was not ready for a potential emergency case.

Fahm Yien Saeturn, R.N., NorthBay Medical Center 1800, noticed re-testing was needed just prior to insulin administra-tion.

Adam Jensen, R.N., in North-

Bay Medical Center’s Surgery Department, identified lack of a needed emergency medication leading to improved supply avail-ability.

Shelly Navarro, clinical coordinator in NorthBay’s Car-diac Cath Lab, noticed conflicting patient identification information and stopped the line until it was resolved.

It takes each of us to continue building upon NorthBay’s good culture.

We appreciate and thank you for all your efforts and in par-ticular your near-miss reporting, which is our first line of defense to help prevent patient harm.

Speaking of continuously improving patient safety, in the next Safety Corner in the July 1 FYI, we will highlight our new Event Report System (VigiLanz) which goes live on July 1, 2020.

The author is the patient safety coordinator for North-Bay Healthcare.

Safety Save win-ners are (start-ing top left and moving clock-wise: Shelley Avila, Suzann Gourieux, Shelly Navarro, Adam Jensen and Fahm Yien Saeturn.

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Security Team Updates Uniforms, Badges

New badges for super-visors and officers also have the new logo.

A good first impression is criti-cal, according to Adam Weinberg, director of Security, especially when it comes to the impression a hospital security team leaves with patients and the public.

“You want to present as pro-fessionally and consistently in your appearance as possible,” he explained, which is why the department recently adopted all-new uniforms and a new design for patches and badges.

“Before, our uniforms were in-consistent in color and we didn’t really look like we were all on the same team,” he said. “The older shirts were getting worn-out looking, and the new shirts are more breathable and comfortable too.”

Now, officers and supervisors have new shirts — in NorthBay blue — navy blue pants and a jacket, a newly designed patch, and a gold badge for supervisors and silver for officers.

The patch and badge redesign

combines images of both hospitals, the NorthBay logo and the year 2012. That was the year that security services were no longer contracted out, but officially came under the NorthBay umbrella, Adam explained.

“It looks crisp, professional, and com-fortable, and NorthBay is well-represent-ed,” he said.

New uniforms for North-Bay Medical Center Secu-rity team members offer a professional impression.

VacaValley Hospital Security staff (above) model their new uniforms. The new patch (right) has images of both hospitals on them.

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Learning Through the Great EscapeHow would you rather learn

about Universal Fall Precautions measures? Through a PowerPoint presentation, or by spending a half hour trying to get out of an Escape Room littered with fall hazards?

Most people might sign up for the Escape Room, but how much information about Univer-sal Fall Precautions will actually be retained after completing the exercise compared to a module? That’s the premise being tested in an Evidence Based Practice Fellowship (EBP) project, ac-cording to Lisa Torgerson, nursing education specialist.

The EBP team’s project applies a “gamification” escape room to replace the Univer-sal Fall Precautions PowerPoint module that all new NorthBay nurses complete as part of their Nursing Service Orientation (NSO).

Gamification uses the typi-cal elements of game playing — point scoring, competition with

others, rules of play — in an activity to encourage greater information reten-tion.

The idea to test gamification on a proposed evi-dence-based prac-tice change was

launched last year, under the guidance of Elisa Jang, clinical nurse specialist, translational research. Once gamification, in the form of an escape room, was chosen for the EBP proj-

ect, the 10-member EBP team brainstormed themes for it, Lisa explained.

The EPB team chose Leah Kuchta’s backstory — a 1920s country hospital where an unfor-tunate fall has occurred — and filled half of the GVAC Sims Lab with era-appropriate props. Once participants identified universal fall precautions and the patient’s fall risk, they “escaped” to the other side of the lab, staged as a modern-day hospital room. Here they had more fall risk issues to

Lisa Torgerson (third from left) conducts a de-brief with Jeniffer Baker, clinical nurse leader, (second from left), after show-ing Ana Cabigas and Michelle Tiopianco how to set up the Escape Room. Ana and Michelle are among several who will help lead future NSO at-tendees through the exercise.

Observing NorthBay Nurse Residency Pro-gram nurses as they work their

way through the Escape

Room in the SIM Lab are Lisa Torger-son (second

from left) and co-trainers

Ana Cabigas, R.N., (left)

and Michelle Tiopianco, R.N.,

(right).

See ESCAPE, Page 9

9

identify and high-risk interven-tions to apply. As with the Pow-erPoint presentation, participants had 30 minutes to complete the task.

Clues led them to discover several risks, including those that could be avoided through pur-poseful rounding, by indentifying the patient’s Four P’s: Personal Belongings, Potty, Pain and Posi-tioning.

A trial group — six precep-tors and all seven members of the NorthBay Nurse Residency Program — tested out the escape room last week.

“Oh, the side rails need to be up,” one said as she moved to the patient bed. “We need to lower the bed,” said another, “and why are the patient’s belongings sitting out here?”

“It went really well,” Lisa said. “They made it through in good time.”

All NSO attendees during the next three months will participate in this unique exercise. After that, the EBP team will analyze results to determine its future use in NSO, Lisa said.

Escape ... (From Page 8)

Nurse Resi-dency Pro-gram nurses gather (above, left) around clues that will lead them to identify and apply high-risk interventions in the SIM Lab Escape Room.

Sampling too much bootlegging product probably led this 1920s “nurse” to be less than observant of her patient’s fall risks.

Team members Arika Medrano, R.N. (left) and Elaine Nobriga, R.N., apply the Four P’s of purposeful rounding to help them solve Escape Room clues.

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During the shelter-in-place order, 10-year-old Chloe Tavares turned to her love of painting pictures into a way to deal with the stresses of not being able to go to school and worrying about medical workers and others on the frontline in the battle against COVID-19.

And then she got an idea — a beautiful, generous idea.

“I wanted to help and honor the nurses and doctors who are working with COVID patients,” the fourth-grader explained. “I think they are brave and I was scared and worried and I wanted to say thank you for all you are doing to help.”

She told her mom she wanted to sell her paintings and use the money to provide pizzas for the medical crews at area hospitals.

“They said ‘That’s a great idea!’ and they’ve been very sup-portive,” Chloe explained.

Her mom, Monica Del Rio, knew just what to do, putting a

post on her Facebook page with the hashtag #LunchOnChloe and inviting friends and family to purchase the art, with a promise that the funds would pay to de-liver meals to health workers.

Monica’s cousin is Christina Silva, R.N., a nurse at NorthBay Medical Center. So when it came time to pick which hospitals to deliver pizza to, NorthBay’s 1600 and 1700 units were among the first to receive the pizzas.

“I told my aunt how worried I was about her and told her I was thinking about her,” Chloe said.

“I was surprised and proud when I first heard she wanted to sell her paintings to donate lunch to us health care workers,” says Christina. “She has always been the most caring and selfless little girl and I am so amazed to see her grow up with such compas-sion to help people.”

Young Artist Sells Work to Feed the Fight

Young artist Chloe Tavares

poses with some of her paintings.

She sells her artwork to raise

money to buy pizza for health

care workers, including her

mom’s cousin Christina Silva, R.N. who works

at NorthBay Med-ical Center. Chloe

bought pizza for the 1600 and

1700 units at the hospital.

NorthBay Medical Cen-ter emergency room staff pose for a photo after receiving two cases of Bobo’s oat bars do-nated by one of their colleagues, Steven Garcia, M.D.

See ARTIST, Page 11

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Chloe’s initial goal was to raise $300. As of June 8, she had raised some $1,000. And Chloe isn’t stopping. She’s asked class-mates and friends at Woodroe Woods School in San Leandro to join in the effort.

“They paint pictures and then get them to me so we can sell them,” she said. “They all wanted to help when I told them the idea.”

She plans to expand the effort to include meals for delivery driv-ers and postal workers soon, as well, she said.

Other donations from commu-nity supporters continue to come in. Here is a look at donations made during the past few weeks: Steve Garcia, M.D.: Two

cases of Bobo Bars donated to NorthBay Medical Center and one case to NorthBay VacaValley Hospital emergency departments. Sue Killian of Fairfield: 30

handmade thank-you cards.

Artist ... (From Page 10)

Cards from KidsMake a Differenceto Young Patient

NorthBay Medical Center patient Ty-Sher Lewis was touched by a card he received from a young artist.

Belinda Trent of Vacaville: Handmade cloth facemasks. Cyndi Giaquinto, R.N.: Fab-

ric for facemasks. Theresa Yeomans and Mary

Ann Kohler of Fairfield: Cloth facemasks. Marylin Lewis of Vacaville:

Cloth facemasks. Connie Ludwig of Rio Vista:

Cloth facemasks. Nancy Juarez of NorthBay

Health Info Management (Medi-cal Records): Elastic bands for facemasks.

When Ty-Sher Lewis, a patient at NorthBay Medical Center Intensive Care Unit, received a special card from a child he didn’t know, he couldn’t believe it.

“He said, ‘Someone actually made this card for me? Are you kidding?” recalled Art Smith, Patient Experience Ambassador. “Suddenly, he got choked up and had a tear in his eye.”

Art said at first the young man wanted every-one to know he was tough. But the 18-year-old was in the ICU and couldn’t have visitors, and he was feeling pretty alone.

“We tried a family video chat, but it was dif-ficult.”

Art had been given a stack of the cheerful get-well messages made by children of staff and physicians.

“Something told me to hang on to this one. And I knew he was the patient who had to have it,” Art recalled.

The card read: “YOU are STRONG, YOU are AWESOME, YOU are LOVED, YOU are NOT ALONE, YOU are TOUGH, YOU are BRAVE, YOU are A FIGHTER.”

“I told him, ‘Ty-Sher, we care about you. We really do. And even a child who doesn’t know you wants to make sure you know it,’” Art recalled.

The first wave of cards came from the children of Shelley Johnson, R.N., director of Critical Care Services.

Before long, they had a dozen friends helping and Shel-ley was doing porch pickups. Then Dr. Shanaz Khambatta read about the Johnson children and shared it with her daughters. The girls got their friends involved and created a website to encourage others to make cards.

Art doesn’t know who actually made the card he gave Ty-Sher, but he’s sure glad he had it to share.

“It really makes a difference to these patients to know someone cares about them,” he said. “It means so much.”

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Members of the Caritas Commit-tee on Units 1600 and 1700 show off some of the gift packets they created to give out to the team. On the commit-tee are Megan Ferreira, R.N., (left to right), organizer Amy Matsukado, R.N., and Unit Clerk Zantrea Tijerino.

They Put the Care in Caritas Committee

Smiling Stress Balls, candy, breath mints and inspirational messages were packed into gifts and handed out to the team on 1600 and 1700.

Nurses spend an entire career caring for others, but how much time do they spend caring for themselves?

Not nearly enough, thought Amy Matsukado, R.N., who has been studying Jean Watson’s Philosophy and Science of Caring, as part of her professional devel-opment.

If the name Jean Watson seems familar, it should. A good portion of NorthBay’s profes-sional practice model for nurs-ing is based on Watson’s nursing theory, “The Art and Science of Caring.”

After talking to her manager, Joan Forbush, R.N., Amy decided to put her knowledge to the test and created a Caritas Committee, focused on Units 1600 and 1700 at NorthBay Medical Center.

It’s considered a pilot and if successful, could be expanded to other acute care units.

“The mission is to enhance caring behaviors toward our-selves, our colleagues, and our patients as a means to improve morale, satisfaction and the qual-ity of interactions,” explained Amy.

Amy put her committee to-gether in February, before CO-VID-19 and social distancing became a regular part of our vernacular.

“It turned out to be good tim-ing because we need to focus on self care now more than ever,” she said.

Her committee includes nurs-es, unit clerks, CNAs and a nurs-ing educator.

Originally the committee planned a kickoff potluck, but the onset of COVID-19 required a more enterprising approach. Instead, the committee created and passed out self-care pack-ages, with a stress ball, inspira-tional message, chocolate and breath mints to the team.

“When we started wearing masks all the time, someone mentioned that they had to smell their own breath all day long. We thought, why not make that pleasant?” Amy said with a chuckle.

The gift came with an expla-nation and a QR Code that leads to more information online.

The units are being asked to review project ideas and vote on ways to improve their work life.

Unit champions for the group include Megan Ferreira, Zantrea Tijerino, Samantha Coss, Tara Bonneville, Kristel Go and Brian-na Harris. Leadership support in-cludes Amy, Lisa Torgerson, Greg Alexander and Joan Forbush.

“So far, everyone has been surprised and grateful for the gift,” said Amy. “We could all use a little extra TLC right now.”

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Chaos ... (From Page 12)

dows of Best Buy at Solano Town Center shopping mall, while oth-ers threw rocks into businesses in the Gateway Plaza, ransacking what they could before police ar-rived.

NorthBay Medical Center, which already has a restrictive visitor policy, went on lockdown and remained in communica-tion with local police throughout the night, according to Adam Weinberg, NorthBay’s director of security.

“Everyone, including the public and staff, was affected by events on the news and in our com-munity,” said Adam. “We definitely saw increased anxiety levels all around, which we witnessed in our Emergency Departments and out on the units. There was a five-to-one spike in the number of Code Grays (combative person) and 5150s that week.”

Local authorities believe the looters had nothing to do with peaceful protests, prayer services and vigils being held around Solano County to protest the horrific death of George Floyd while in custody of Minneapolis police.

“These are straight up criminals,” said one Fair-field police officer. “They have nothing to do with the protesting ...”

Solano County imposed a two-day curfew, be-tween 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. on both June 2 and June 3 to prevent further violence. The decision moved up plans for a peaceful protest in Green Valley and prompted NorthBay to close its Green Valley cam-pus offices at 4 p.m. on June 2 and both Urgent Care Centers in Fairfield and Vacaville at 4 p.m. on June 2 and June 3.

The security team remained on alert.“Last-minute schedule changes, to add extra

personnel necessary to provide security for our facilities and staff, was met with flexibility and pro-fessionalism,” said Adam. “What I saw was a team concentrating on being professional and committed to doing what we do, despite all the distractions.”

Following the looting, some local pharmacies chose to close or modify hours, which made filling prescriptions a challenge, especially for patients about to be released from the hospital.

The pharmacy team at NorthBay jumped in to get an assessment on area facilities and continued

posting updates on Share-Space through the crisis. Clinical Pharmacist Tatum Urrutia fielded many calls and teamed up with Touro University student Catherine Nang to check in with local pharmacies.

Also on June 2, a helicop-ter crashed in rural Vacav-ille about 1 p.m., killing its three occupants. The crash sparked a fire that caused a power outage, which affected 40,000 residents as well as NorthBay Medical Center.

The hospital quickly transferred to generator power for approximately five hours until the power was restored.

Unfortunately, the restoration of power caused a circuit breaker failure at Green Valley Administra-tion Center, forcing IT teams to work into the night to bring back systems, including Cerner.

Perhaps Vice President and Chief Information Officer Chris Timbers said it best in a LinkedIn post on the subject: “If you laid all this out as a plot for a movie, most would say it is not believable that it could all happen on the same day. Luckily we have an amazing team of IT professionals who worked through the night to get the system back online and amazing and tolerant partners in hospital op-erations who never cease to amaze me in how they continue to respond to everything thrown at them over the past few months.”

On Wednesday, June 3, officials say an arsonist started a fire in Suisun, which ultimately destroyed four homes and damaged at least seven others as well as outbuildings at the Suisun Wildlife Center. Suisun City Fire Chief Justin Vincent said it was an-other in a disturbing string of suspected arson fires set in the last week.

On June 6, the Quail Fire began in the afternoon between Vacaville and Winters, and eventually drew 600 firefighters from throughout Northern California to contain the blaze, which damaged more than 1,800 acres. Authorities are still investi-gating its cause.

Aimee Brewer, president of NorthBay Healthcare Group, complimented employees for their steadfast focus on the patient, even during tremendously stressful circumstances.

“Through it all, our team shined,” she wrote in one of her updates. “NorthBay will continue to be a beacon of light in this community while safely serv-ing the needs of our patients.”

14See EXPERTISE, Page 15

Expertise ... From Page 1)

tools to protect the safety of the community’s most vulnerable population.

Since the beginning of the global pandemic, more than half of the 23 deaths reported in So-lano County were of residents of the Vallejo convalescent center.

“We want to make sure that all senior care facilities in So-lano County have proper educa-tion and access to testing,” said Wayne.

He asked Mary to create a team and invite other health care agencies to join NorthBay. As a result, Solano Public Health, Carbon Health and Kaiser Perma-nente joined the outreach.

“What a phenomenal collabo-ration,” said Mary, applauding Wayne’s foresight. “Proactive testing is key in helping ensure early detection and appropriate isolation. It’s the right thing to do for the at-risk members of our community.”

Vacaville Convalescent and Rehabilitation Center Administra-tor Joe Niccoli said his team was very open to the baseline testing and will continue to do surveil-lance testing of staff and resi-dents.

“No one wants to potentially harm one of our residents or

bring anything home to a loved one,” he said.

On May 27, another 226 indi-viduals were tested at Paradise Valley Estates, which pleased Kevin Burke, Chief Executive Offi-cer. “We were fortunate to have a strong relationship with NorthBay Healthcare, which helped us initi-ate and coordinate surveillance testing,” he said.

Once the first tests occur with all residents and staff, the sec-ond phase is to retest half of the employees, and two weeks later the other half.

“Residents don’t need to be tested again, because they’re not coming and going from the facility,” explained Mary. “But em-ployees do.”

While the nose swab testing isn’t pleasant, the opportunity for residents to interact with staff and visiting medical colleagues was welcome, said Mary.

“It just made you feel great, being able to perform this ser-vice; it’s such a cool giveback,” said Mary. “They are so apprecia-tive. It doesn’t feel like work.”

Helping senior home staff be-come independent is good for the county, too, said Mary.

“The county testing facility can get overwhelmed quickly. This ensures tests happen on a regular and ongoing basis. And if anyone does test positive, the nursing homes have a whole

protocol of procedures to imple-ment.”

On Tuesday, June 9, the Fair-field City Council unanimously approved NorthBay Healthcare’s grant application for $250,000 to help with COVID-19 response efforts.

The grant will help fund ambu-latory division efforts to extend testing into more skilled nursing facilities, post-acute care cen-ters and senior living centers in Fairfield. Included in that list are Fairfield Post-Acute Rehab Cen-ter; Greenfield Care Center; La Mariposa Nursing & Rehab Cen-ter; Senior Manor; and Parkway Plaza.

One key addition that will help tremendously is the acquisition of a BioFire Torch analyzer, which will allow more accurate testing on a complete respiratory panel.

“It will allow us to test our patients for 22 different target diseases, including five influ-enza strains and five coronavirus strains, including COVID-19,” said Jerry Simmers, director of Laboratory Services.

The results are the “gold stan-dard” of testing.

“In the future we will also be able to perform stool panels, MRSA, pneumonia panels as well as blood-culture identification on our patients,” said Jerry, noting the analyzer allows four speci-mens at a time, and takes about 45 minutes.

“We currently send these pan-els to Quest Diagnostics, which can delay care and treatment,” he noted.

The analyzer arrived June 10, and training began on June 11.

Although NorthBay Health-care hit a high of 10 COVID-19 patients hospitalized at once on May 27, the number has been continuously dropping ever since

Live-streaming Lectures ContinueNorthBay Healthcare’s series of physician lectures will continue

to air via live video streaming format in the coming weeks.Next up is “Don’t Let Painful Joints Slow You Down,” by ortho-

pedic surgeon Andrew Brooks, M.D. The talk will take place at 2 p.m. on June 18 at https://www.northbay.org/about/Doc-Talk-Live-Live-Video-Stream.cfm

Past video talks can also be viewed including recent discussions by NorthBay Urologist Herkanwal Khaira, M.D. and experts Kevin Miller, DPM, and cardiologist Milind Dhond, M.D.

Testing Continues

15

Expertise ...(From Page 14)

and as of June 15 was down to one.Meanwhile, in Solano County, the number

of confirmed cases since the outbreak con-tinued a steady rise to 685, with 93 need-ing hospitalization at one time. As of June 15 there were 82 active cases, but only 14 hospitalized.

As of June 15, NorthBay Urgent Care had tested 985 patients, and recorded 46 posi-tives. At the hospital, 996 tests have been administered, with 47 positives.

Chief Medical Officer Seth Kaufman, M.D., continues his weekly COVID-19 chats on Facebook live. In the past two weeks he has discussed a potential surge, and how to care for seniors during the pandemic. On June 18, he will discuss testing again, with details about how NorthBay’s new BioFire analyzer will be useful on many levels. He will con-tinue to share on Facebook Live at 10 a.m. each Thursday. Just visit www.Facebook.com/northbayhealthcare. Previous chats can be found on www.NorthBay.org/COVIDChat.

Rules and regulations about masking are now part of a formal Universal Masking Policy that can be found on PolicyStat. Links are also available on ShareSpace.

The policy outlines best practices to pro-tect health care workers and the community from the spread of COVID-19.

Failure to adhere to the policy may result in corrective action. The policy states: All employees must wear a NorthBay-

issued mask when in any clinical spaces. Employees in non-clinical settings are

asked to wear a mask/face covering continu-ously when unable to practice social distanc-ing. Masks should cover mouths and noses. Masks should be obtained from your

department; valved face masks are not al-lowed. All individuals (patients, visitors, ven-

dors, etc.) must wear a face covering when entering any of our facilities. Patients should be masked when out-

side of their rooms.

SharingVia Zoom

Free reusable mask giveaways are planned in Fair-field, Dixon and Vallejo starting Friday.

Solano County, Pull Up Neighbor, Links2Hope and a group of other civic organizations have teamed up to hand out the masks from 10 a.m. to noon on June 19 at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, 1001 Fairgrounds Drive in Vallejo; from 10 a.m. to noon June 20 at Mount Calvary Baptist Church, 1735 Enterprise Drive in Fairfield; and from 2-4 p.m. June 20 at Miracle Christian Center, 410 East H Street in Dixon.

The effort is part of the fight against COVID-19. In the meantime, the state’s two free COVID-19 test-

ing sites continue to operate in Vacaville and Vallejo. The OptumServe community testing sites are open to anyone, including agricultural workers, undocumented individuals, residents, and homeless individuals. Testing is free — your health insurance will be billed for the ser-vice. If you do not have health insurance, the state will cover the costs of testing. You will receive test results within 2-5 days. Schedule an appointment at lhi.care/covidtesting. For those without internet access, call 888-634-1123.

Mask Giveaways in Solano Cities

Gregory Warner, D.O., in-fectious disease specialist, answers questions during

a Soroptimist Interna-tional of Vacaville Zoom

meeting. Dr. Warner has also shared his COVID-19

knowledge during a So-lano Hispanic Chamber of

Commerce Zoom meet-ing.

More Facebook Live Chats to Come

Universal Masking Policy is Formal

Testing Continues

16

Joint Commission Resumes Site VisitsPlan is to AlwaysBe Survey-Ready

After a COVID-19-induced hiatus, The Joint Commission has announced that it will resume site visits, beginning this month, according to Heather Resseger, director of Quality.

For NorthBay Healthcare, it means a visit could occur any time after July.

Unlike in the past, this year NorthBay and other hospitals will be notified one to three weeks before The Joint Com-mision team of auditors arrives on campus.

“That extra time is for The Joint Commission to do their due diligence to ensure that neither our county nor our hospital is a hot-spot for COVID-19,” said Nicole Brocato, vice president and Chief Quality Of-ficer.

The team will be smaller, as well, according to Nicole.

“They will not be sitting in on procedures as they have done in the past, to ensure their team’s safety from an infection prevention standpoint.

“We’ve been told that nearly 500 counties now qualify for a visit,” said Nicole. “The team will ask in advance for documents to be uploaded, so they can do their preparation work off site.”

Should NorthBay or Solano County experience a spike in COVID-19 cases, The Joint Commission would reschedule the review.

“This is a good opportunity for us to remind everyone that our goal is to be survey-ready all of the time, regardless of when The Joint Commission shows up,” said Heather.

To remind employees about accreditation standards and how NorthBay uses the standards to provide exceptional care to pa-tients and families, an updated guide has been distributed to em-ployees across the organization.

The “2020 Continuous Survey Readiness Guide” reminds employ-ees that a major key to the success on surveys is how they interact with the survey team and demonstrate exemplary care, according to Aimee Brewer, president of NorthBay Health-care Group.

“Our goal is that the information in the booklet will not only prove useful in preparing for the upcoming survey, but also serve as a refer-ence guide during our ongoing journey to excel-lence,” she said.

The 52-page booklet offers survey tips, informa-tion on patient tracer activity, and a daily checklist for units and departments.

The booklet goes into a lot of detail about pa-tient safety, environment of care, infection control, medication management and HIPAA and medical records.

If you did not receive a copy of the 2020 guide and want one, ask your supervisor, or reach out to Janai Bolds at Janai.Bolds@northbay.org, (707) 646-5790 or Heather at (707) 646-5759 or email Heather.Resseger@NorthBay.org.