‘Coronavirus is a challenge ... it’s ours to solve’: Emails give insight into JPS work
In early March, Robert Earley gathered his troops.
He sent emails thanking them for their early work and encouraging them to push forward. He told them their work is following in the footsteps of history. He reminded them that they are on the front lines of a difficult battle.
“Coronavirus is a challenge, no doubt,” he told them. “And it’s ours to solve.”
Earley, the chief executive officer at John Peter Smith Hospital, started communicating with his 6,700 employees around the time the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, according to emails obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram through an open records request.
Those emails give a glimpse into the hospital’s preparations and what Earley communicated with his staff, which were often in the tone of encouragement.
On March 13 — two days after the pandemic declaration — Earley sent his staff coronavirus statistics.
There were 122,356 cases globally.
Of those, 1,135 were in the U.S.
Tarrant County had two cases.
Two weeks later, those numbers exploded. As of Friday afternoon, there were more than 560,000 cases globally with more than 25,000 deaths.
At 1 a.m. on Friday, there were 93,151 cases in the U.S. with 1,382 deaths.
There were 114 reported cases in Tarrant County.
Communication in the hospital
On March 13, Earley told the board that the JPS team was “working diligently to make sure the community is protected and safe as well as the 6,700 employees that work here.
“I believe we are doing our best to balance the fear that surrounds this issue and the need to seek proper answers and proper responses. I have not witnessed a single JPS employee who was not ready to take all needed action and put in the extra effort and time to do what is right.”
He said his team meets daily to make sure they’re fully educated on the impact of COVID-19.
“We are in constant contact with Federal, State and Local officials as well as our healthcare colleagues near and far,” he wrote. “We receive daily information from the Center for Disease Control, the Dallas Ft Worth Hospital Council and the Tarrant County Health Department”
Earley reminded his staff on March 17 that they’re on the front line.
“You and I come in, even as others are called to stay home,” he said. “We JPS team members know how to show up, bringing out skills and our heart and our humor to every challenge.”
He reminded them that some days won’t be easy and that difficult times could be ahead, but that they have each other.
“In those moments, like this moment, we must remember that we have the strength of each other,” he said. “As JPS nurses know, an act of caring from a single person can affect someone profoundly. Please continue to focus on the task at hand: caring for the patient — the person — the friend — right in front of you.”
JPS prepares
Earley said the No. 1 question the hospital gets is about its testing capabilities.
“At this point, the prescribed protocol is if a patient presents and meets the specific requirements we contact Tarrant County Public Health/CDC and they determine if testing is needed,” Earley said. “Currently we do not test at JPS.”
As of Thursday, this was still the process, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Among his emails, Earley sent a presentation to staff with tips on how to prepare. It asked that staff members conserve personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves, eye protection and gowns.
The hospital set travel limitations for employees and began to screen visitors. Then, it limited the amount of visitors one person could have at a time.
There are 578 hospital beds in JPS. There are 36 ICU rooms and 40 isolation rooms.
To help clear up beds, nonessential surgeries and procedures were already postponed.
The Star-Telegram requested emails and documents that would give a picture of how exactly the public hospital is preparing for a crisis, but that request was denied, citing part of the Texas Homeland Security Act that says tactical plans and staffing requirements are confidential. The hospital sent the newspaper’s request to Attorney General Ken Paxton for an opinion.
Support for health care workers
Across the country, people are using social media to show their support for health care professionals.
In Missouri, residents of Sikeston chalked sidewalks near their medical center with inspiring messages. In Georgia, residents there put cut-out hearts on their doors and mailboxes to say “thank you.”
One campaign on Twitter asked for residents to stand on their porches and balconies at 8 p.m. to cheer for staff as they left hospitals during shift changes.
Some crafty people have been sewing masks with their downtime at home to send to emergency rooms. The CDC said homemade masks should be used only as a last resort and “ideally be used in combination with a face shield that covers the entire front (that extends to the chin or below) and sides of the face.”
