Direct Line from Steve Edwards: 6/18/21

June 18, 2021

COVID-19 update

Given a dramatic increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations at our facilities, we announced today that Cox South may go on divert status for COVID-19 patients. This status is fluid and may change based on discharges, but when we are divert, patients will be sent to other facilities in the region for care.

The health system currently has 79 inpatients with COVID-19, which is a more than five-fold increase from less than a month ago. The hospital is also experiencing an especially high census of more traditional summer and surgical patients.

We are dedicated to caring for all patients in the safest fashion possible. Given that other large cities in Missouri are not surging, their hospitals may have sufficient capacity and be able to help us care for our community in this surge, which is associated with the Delta variant.

Many factors are different today than they were a few months ago. During the last COVID-19 surge, CoxHealth employees were joined by hundreds of traveling nurses and respiratory therapists who were dedicated to caring for COVID-19 patients. Unfortunately, there now is a limited number of those individuals available. This reality is compounded by the fact that COVID-19 patients take a great deal of concentrated attention and specific expertise, requiring more staffing than other units.

We are committed to not scaling back our services, nor compromising our standard of care, which leads us to consider divert status at this time.

Going on divert status is not permanent. As patients are discharged from CoxHealth’s hospitals, it opens capacity for others to be treated locally. Given the fluidity of the situation, the health system might divert patients one day and not the next. When we are on divert, patients will be sent to facilities that have capacity at that time. These might include places like Kansas City or St. Louis.

If projections prove true, the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations will continue to dramatically increase in the coming weeks. We hope this won’t be the case. However, we continue to strongly encourage our communities to utilize the strongest tool we have against this surge: vaccination. Despite increasing hospitalizations, we are seeing very few people who have been vaccinated become critically ill. These vaccinations can be the line between life and death. To schedule a vaccination, please call 417-269-INFO.

“Best Place to Work” update

Even though the announcement is months away, we’re already looking forward to learning where we rank on Modern Healthcare’s “Best Place to Work” list. This week, Celeste Cramer, our system director of Recruitment and Retention, and Andy Hedgpeth, vice president of Human Resources, shared their thoughts on this news, and why it reflects the culture we try to build at CoxHealth. You can read their thoughts here.

We were also honored to be named as one of the country’s Best Employers for New Grads by Forbes.

Reopening of The Meyer Center

Monday was a good day: After nearly a year away, the first members walked back in to The Meyer Center to exercise. The facility has served in many worthwhile capacities since it was closed – such as for our School Care Program, and as a mass COVID-19 vaccination site – but it was so good to see its revival as a place to encourage greater health. More info about its current services and hours may be seen here.

Voice of the Patient
From a patient at Cox South: “Thank you, CoxHealth. My visit to your Springfield, Mo., facility was top-notch. Courteous, professional nurses and doctors. I was checked in, evaluated, X-rayed, informed, and discharged in record time. Overall a 10 out of 10.”

Thank you for all you do,
Steve