Earlier this month, Sleepy Hollow-based Phelps Hospital received a four-star rating for the third consecutive year from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. For the hospital”™s executive director, Eileen Egan, this was welcome news as she observed her first anniversary in the hospital”™s leadership position following the most unprecedented year imaginable.
In this edition of Suite Talk, Business Journal Senior Enterprise Editor Phil Hall speaks with Egan about running a hospital in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime health crisis.
What was it like assuming the leadership of a hospital as a pandemic was taking root?
“I started as the interim executive director in March a year ago, and in May I was asked to take on the role as a permanent position. I can”™t remember exactly the date ”” you”™d think that would be embedded in my mind forever ”” but the March date is because March 9 and that Monday was when we had our first Covid patient. In fact, it was the first Covid patient in the Northwell Health system, so it was truly baptism by fire.”
In the year since then, what have you seen as your greatest triumphs?
“I think some of our greatest triumphs was seeing the way my leadership team and the way the staff could pull together and rise to any occasion and the resiliency with which they were able to continue to work with patients day after day. It truly was exhausting.
“Unless you”™ve worked here in the hospital and actually saw some of the things we saw, it”™s hard to realize the impact that it had. We”™ve never seen anything like this before. We saw our 12-bed ICU with all ventilators expand to one point where we had 39 ICU patients, with 36 of them on ventilators.
“It was so gratifying to see the team work together. Day in and day out, even when they were exhausted, people were not taking their time off because they didn”™t want to leave their colleagues. We didn”™t know where it was going to end. That was the triumph ”” to see how we can really rise to just about any occasion was so exhilarating and everybody was so creative and imaginative.”
Where”™s the hospital today in terms of dealing with Covid patients?
“By last year, around June and July, we were almost a full house ”” we have a 135-bed hospital and we probably had close to 125 patients that were Covid positive. We watched those numbers decline until sometime in the summer we started to feel good that things were definitely going in the right direction. By Oct. 31, we had zero patients and we celebrated that day ”” only to quickly ramp up again because the next day we had the admission of two more.
“By Jan. 4, we had the peak in the second surge at around 62 patients, and then it went down and now the positivity rate in Westchester is one of the lowest it”™s been. Today in the hospital, we only have five Covid-positive patients.
“We don”™t think we”™ll ever be finished with Covid patients ”” just like with the flu, it will always be out there. But we definitely have turned the corner.”
How is the hospital staff holding up?
“They”™ve been somewhat traumatized. We”™ve been very focused on well-being and wellness programs that can support some of this traumatic experience that they saw. They have been very resilient, but I think they”™re having trouble.
“When we first started the second surge, there was a look of panic in everybody”™s eyes. We weren”™t anywhere near as full the second time, but it conjured up a bunch of feelings in them that they never had time to work their way through.
“But they came to work and they”™re caring for the patients. And, in some ways, we”™re not as anxious. We know more about the disease, we know how to protect ourselves, we have enough PPP. It was a little bit easier the second time around and we”™re hoping that we don”™t worry about a third surge.”
What”™s at the top of your agenda for you as you start your second year as executive director?
“As we continue to go along the healing journey, I”™d like to start to continue our strategic plan. Since everything was on hold for a while, we put surgical procedures on hold and all of the elective procedures and outpatient programs on hold. My goal is to bring everything on full force ”” and we”™re pretty much there.
“Our cancer care is really taking off and in order for us to accommodate that, one of the things that would further that is putting in a PET scan. We”™ve also started work on our maternal child health ”” it”™s been a while since that unit”™s been renovated. And we”™re going to redo our postpartum floor, labor and delivery and our nursery.
“It”™s my goal to fully embrace what our strategic plan and our goals and initiatives have been and make sure that we stay on track with those sorts of things.”
What do you see as Phelps”™ role within the regional health care system?
“Phelps role is to identify any gaps in the needs of the patients or the community and to then to be able to offer programs and services that fills that gap. We work closely with Northern Westchester Hospital to develop services without redundancy in both of our hospitals.
“Both of the hospitals are in a small area and it would be silly to spend money when we can focus on specific areas and then collaborate with one another.”
