Heroes are everywhere at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset—from the bedside to all of the departments working behind the scenes. We salute everyone on our team for their roles in helping us care for patients with COVID-19.
Mobile Health Services: This team stands ready to respond to any emergency. Members were literally on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic as first responders.
Pastoral Care: During the COVID-19 pandemic, our pastoral care department connected patients and families in prayer through virtual visits via FaceTime or Skype.
Peer Recovery: Lay specialists in peer recovery from the RWJBarnabas Health Institute for Prevention and Recovery offer support to patients with addiction disorders.
Laboratory: Our clinical laboratory professionals worked 24/7 to collect and process specimens from patients suspected of having COVID-19. Their efforts helped ensure accurate test results that doctors need to help diagnose and treat patients.
Environmental Services: This important team worked diligently to clean the hospital, keeping us all healthy and safe.
Central Sterile Processing: Sterilizing hepa filters and ventilators used by COVID-19 patients is a critically important job. This group also sterilizes N95 masks worn by staff so they can be safely reused.
Respiratory Therapy: COVID-19 is a respiratory illness, so the role of our respiratory therapists is vital in managing their care. They check patients on ventilators every four hours and continuously monitor their oxygen levels.
Latino Community Outreach: Our Community Health department, our Diversity and Inclusion department, and the SALUD Business Resource Group worked with Bound Brook officials to distribute masks, hand sanitizer and information on the prevention of COVID-19. Community Health also made more than 4,100 phone calls to members of the Latino community.
Pharmacy: The Pharmacy team ensures that patients get the medications they need around the clock, including sedatives, painkillers and antibiotics that help manage the pain and comfort of COVID-19 patients on ventilators. The hospital also is part of a clinical study to evaluate the safety of an investigational antiviral drug, Remdesivir, in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Radiology: Conducting scans and X-rays that help doctors diagnose COVID-19 and understand the progression of the disease helps to ensure that patients receive the best treatment as their situation evolves.
Critical Care: Our Critical Care nurses and intensivists cared for our sickest COVID-19 patients, many of whom were on ventilators. In addition, we had four patient care units dedicated exclusively to the care of COVID-19 patients.
Rehab Services: COVID-19 patients need many services on their road to recovery. After a patient is removed from a ventilator, our speech pathologists evaluate their ability to begin eating solid food. Before patients go home, our physical and occupational therapists work with them to build up their strength.
Supply Chain: Our supply chain team ensured that we had sufficient stock of personal protective equipment (PPE), hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Behavioral Health: These experts help individuals who have difficulty coping during this challenging time. The department provides inpatient, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient treatment for conditions such as anxiety disorders, depression, addiction and eating disorders.
Screeners: Employees from outpatient areas were redeployed to assist in other areas of the hospital, including serving as screeners in the main lobby and Steeplechase Cancer Center lobby. Everyone entering the hospital is screened for flu-like symptoms, has their temperature taken and is given a mask to wear throughout the hospital.
Maintenance: Our Maintenance team helped retrofit our Critical Care rooms to move infusion pumps into the hallway, reducing the number of times nurses needed to enter the room of a COVID-19 patient to lessen potential exposure and conserve PPE.
To share your thanks or make a donation in support of our health care heroes, visit www.rwjbh.org/heroes.