It’s the faces of skilled doctors and nurses that patients see when they’re in the hospital. But it takes a whole team of people working as one – many of them behind the scenes -- to win the fight against COVID-19.
No matter what department they’re from or how long they have worked there, team members from across the JPS Health Network have pitched in during this these unusual times. Why? Because their patients and their community need them.
A simple suggestion from a JPS Health Network leader has made the fight against COVID-19 safer for healthcare workers across the country and around the world.
Faced with a unique challenge a few weeks ago, Jim Graves, Executive Director of Respiratory Care at JPS Health Network, received inspiration from an unexpected source: the little Bluetooth speaker that sits on his desk.
For the last ten years, JPS has served Tarrant County and beyond as the only Level 1 Trauma Center on the west side of DFW. It’s an accomplishment that felt like an impossible dream for the first decade of the 21st century.
“It was something that they had been working on for a long time when I arrived here a little more than 10 years ago,” said Dr. Raj Gandhi, Medical Director of Trauma at JPS. “So they knew what went into it and how difficult it is to meet all the standards to reach Level 1. But they also knew how important it is to the community to have those services.”
While it seems the world is preoccupied with the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors, nurses, and team members at the JPS Oncology and Infusion Center still have a job to do.
Time is of the essence, and their work waits for nothing. Patients who can’t wait for the virus to be defeated before they fight back against cancer in their bodies can still count on getting the care they need, according to Dr. Bassam Ghabach, Medical Director of the Oncology and Infusion Center.
There’s a new way to see the doctor at JPS!
JPS Health Network is now offering virtual visits which allow patients to video conference with their doctor from the comfort and safety of their own home. You can see a provider for urgent care visits, when you have a minor emergency that would otherwise cause you to visit an urgent care center. Or, instead of going to your doctor’s office for your regularly scheduled visits, you can get checked out from home.
One of the toughest parts of the fight against COVID-19 is that the virus has forced hospitals around the globe to bar visitors from entering out of concern for the safety of patients and the healthcare workers providing care to them.
At JPS Health Network, a team of tireless chaplains is doing all it can to bridge the gap between patients in the hospital and their worried families forced to stay at home. They are still touching lives – but in new and different ways.
Answering a call for more information about the community’s current health crisis, JPS Health Network has created a COVID-19 information line accessible to both healthcare workers and the public.
Starting today, information will be available on a recording updated daily at 10 a.m. In an email to staff, JPS President and CEO Robert Earley said the recording will include information about the number of JPS patients who have tested positive for COVID-19.
Wanda Peebles, Executive VP Acute Care and Chief Nursing Officer at JPS Health Network, is no stranger to helping lead people through tough situations.
During her 44-year career in the healthcare industry – the last nine of those years at JPS – she’s been called on to work through challenges both natural and manmade.
