05.04.20 COVID-19 Briefing Live Stream Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
May 4, 2020
Live Stream - Live with the County of Santa Clara
10am PT

Michael Elliot: Good morning everyone, I'm Michael Elliot with the Valley Medical Center Foundation.
Thank you for joining us. First, I want to say that we are removing our face mask because we are practicing social distancing and also to aid our sign language interpreter so that they can see what we are saying.

A quick update before we get into our show. Today, there are currently 2231 cases of COVID-19 here in Santa Clara County and also sad to report that there have been 115 deaths in this county from COVID-19. Let us hold our loved ones close and dear. Our show today is about how community support in the form of donations and other acts of kindness have made a big difference for our frontline healthcare workers.

A little over two and a half months ago, we, at the VMC Foundation, put out a call for donations to the
community for personal protective equipment for health care workers; this is masks, and gloves and face shields, hand sanitizer. Those kinds of items to help us prepare for COVID-19. The response has been overwhelming. Since that time, over two and a half million items of personal protective equipment have been donated to the Valley Medical Center Foundation and six million dollars that's allowed us to buy things like ventilators and testing equipment and other needed supplies. So, it's made a real practical impact on our ability to respond but it's also lifted the spirits of our frontline health care workers and to talk about that today I am so fortunate to be joined by two extraordinary individuals who are working hard behind the scenes to keep all of us safe, from Santa Clara Valley Medical Center the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Phuong Nguyen. Phuong, thank you so much for being here today.

And from St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, the hospital executive and a registered nurse, Gloria Dela Merced. Gloria, thank you so much for being here today. Gloria we're going to start with you. This has been a profoundly stressful time for healthcare workers as they have faced this crisis both because of the risk that they're having to take and the anxiety and suffering that they're having to bear witness to. How has these donations from the community made a difference to you and your colleagues personally? How has it helped you get through this difficult time?

Gloria Dela Merced: Sure. It does a lot to us. It means a you know really great a joy to all of us
health care workers and it does bring a lot of meaning to all the workers at St. Louis Regional Hospital, O'Connor Hospital as well as Valley Medical Center. All those donations, overwhelming donations, are very important to us because it does help us have a sense of security that we have all those protective equipment so that we can safely take care of our patients on a daily basis.

Recently, we got a very nice donation from, personalized cookies from, local bakery in Gilroy resembling a healthcare worker wearing a mask. It sure did brought joy to our frontline staff. That was very cute.

ME: Thank You Gloria. Doctor let's talk a little bit about why maintaining an adequate supply of PPE is
so critical during this particular crisis? What's unique about this disease that that makes protecting health care workers so challenging and so important?

Dr. Phuong Nguyen: So COVID-19, unlike the influenza or the flu infection, is a novel respiratory viral infection that spread a lot easier than influenza itself. There currently is no effective treatment or vaccines. In our day to day care for COVID patient, in order to keep our healthcare workers safe, we need to be able to have available proper PPE equipment for our team. In that regards, in caring for symptomatic COVID patient, we really need the N95 respirator or mask along with all the other equipment that Michael mentioned that's been donated through the foundations.

ME: And why, some have asked, why are we having to get this donated from the community why can't we just go out and buy this stuff? What's the reason for asking for donations?

DPN: So, that's a great question and I think a lot of us wonder why we need this? Under normal circumstances, all healthcare facility has normal channels where we purchase PPE along with other vital Hospital equipment in order for us to serve our patient. Because COVID-19 is a pandemic infection that affected over a hundred and eighty countries and territories, spanning all six continents, is make it tremendously challenging in an abrupt period of time to be able to procure PPE for the entire world. So, it's no exception to the United States. That's pretty much the reason why.

ME: Gloria, you mentioned the cookies and this is a public health broadcast and normally we don't celebrate cookies but in this case, we will of course. Is there been a particular donation that has been personally meaningful to you otherwise that really stands out in these last few months that's put a smile in your face?

GDM: Sure, we recently have a donation a local high school student from Gilroy who created a face shield mask in his garage. You know he designed it himself and you know and created more out of the digital printer and he brought it down to St. Louise and it sure did brought joy and you know, tears of joy and gratitude to our frontline staff. You know for a local high school kid to be able to think about that you know they feel so loved and you know and the sense of security once again for having that personal protective equipment being made by a local resident you know as young as him you know and making a lot of difference in in the daily lives of our healthcare workers.

ME: That's fantastic! Let's stay with you is you know the shelter-in-place order has recently been extended to the end of this month, the month of May. So, what are you saying to your friends and families and colleagues and why continuing to abide by this order is so critical to helping us get through this crisis? Why do we still need to continue to shelter in place?

GDM: Shelter in place, you know, staying home stop the spread and saving more lives. It is such very important that sheltering, you know, remain sheltering in place is very important for us healthcare workers. Let us, allow us to take care of our sick patients and you please stay home so that you can continue to stop the spread. And at the same time, you know, able to make a difference in the lives of many others.

ME: Dr. Nguyen, let's talk about hospital readiness. Where are we now as opposed to where we were in March when the first shelter in place order went into effect? What is this time allowed us, the hospital side, to do to help us be better prepared to respond to COVID-19?

DPN: So, the shelter in place in essence have given our system along with other system a lot of time to be able to increase our capacity, to be able to purchase and secure critical hospital supply including the PPE that we mentioned, also the respirators and critical medications. It's also helped us to have time to
prepare, to complete and prepare search planning and most recently a lot of facility includes ourselves has implemented the recovery phase and as of today I'm happy to say that we are slowly bringing back elective procedures and surgeries.

ME: I want to talk a little bit about why having such a strong public health care system as we do here in Santa Clara County is making a difference in our response to this crisis. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center widely regarded is one of the finest public hospitals anywhere now part of an expanded integrated network with O'Connor hospital and St. Louise Regional Hospital. What makes having a strong public health care system an important tool in helping this community respond to COVID-19?

DPN: So, the core mission of public health system is to deliver quality care to all residents especially the vulnerable populations. We are grateful and very fortunate in our county to have the support of our board supervisor and the leadership of Dr. Chad Smith, the County Executive, to have a robust public hospital system.

The acquisition of O'Connor and St. Louise and De Paul has helped us expand our healthcare workforce significantly also add significant acute bed capacity to our system and allowing us to provide better care to the South County resident.

ME: Gloria, and you've seen a remarkable transformation at St. Louise from the hospital potentially closing down to now being part of this county network. How is this integration with the County of Santa Clara health system improve your ability to offer the care you need and strengthen St. Louise's ability to respond to Covid-19?

GEM: Sure, by being part of a large public health system, it allowed us to access more resources and you know the technology, state-of-the-art technology. Last year, in August, we implemented the epic health link which allowed us you know fast reliable electronic medical system which is really a great gift for us to be able to better take care of our patients. And also, to being part of the public health system, we in the early part of the acquisition, we created a transfer center that allows a coordinated effort to transfer patients within the hospitals for either for a higher level of care and/or more access to resources.

ME: So, it's a really integrated system then?

GEM: Absolutely, yes.

ME: So, we're almost out of time. So, lightning round here. Dr. Nguyen we are not out of the woods yet
with COVID-19? What's your message to everyone well as a doctor, what's your message to everyone watching right now on what the most important thing they can do to help us get through this?

DPN: So, firstly I want to thank the collective communities for the tremendous sacrifices that have been made to date. I urge everyone to continue to listen to our Public Health Officer Orders. We cannot afford to lose the ground that we have gained. We need more time for the healthcare system to build additional capacity. We also need time for our Public Health Department to acquire a robust system for them to be able to transition from mitigation back to containment and also to give our researchers and scientists time to develop treatments and vaccines. I want to thank you to keep please do keep yourself safe, your family safe, and the community. I believe that we will succeed.

ME: And Gloria, quick message to folks watching at home on why these donations have been appreciated are making a difference? GEM: Sure, so I want to urge the community to please continue to send those donations because they're very important to us. And also, to please also remember our less fortunate community resident, especially the homeless, the depressed people, people who lost their jobs and please continue to reach out to our local food banks because they are really needing our help. And for my last message, I strongly would advocate for staying home, stop the spread, saving millions of lives and thank you so much and stay safe everyone.

ME: Well thank you Dr. Nguyen and thank you Gloria for joining us. We still need your help with the Valley Medical Center foundation. If you'd like to make a donation of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers valley-wide or to make a financial contribution go to VMC foundation.org and I’d also like to remind you that tomorrow is Giving Tuesday Now, a national day giving that typically happens the week after Thanksgiving but it's been bumped up this year because there are so many important nonprofit organizations that need your financial support so they can keep on providing the essential services that they do.

So, please tomorrow, participate in Giving Tuesday Now by making a gift to the Valley Medical Center Foundation or to an organization that you care about in your community. Thank you again for joining us I'd also like to remind you that at 12:30 today, the County of Santa Clara will be hosting a press conference and that'll be broadcast on Facebook Live so please tune in for that for some important announcements. I'm Michael Elliot with the Valley Medical Center Foundation, thank you so much for joining us today, stay home and stay safe.

DPN: Thank you.

GEM: Thank you