By Ally Lanasa, Staff Writer

(March 18, 2021) Nettie Widgeon, a Berlin resident and charge nurse in the emergency department at Atlantic General Hospital, told the Berlin mayor and Town Council last Monday how unnerving it was to care for patients in the age of covid-19 last year.

Her presentation was part of the overview Atlantic General Hospital associates gave the mayor and council.

“When covid first started, we were confused and scared,” Widgeon said. “We rearranged our emergency room a million times trying to figure out how do we keep people safe, how do we keep our patients separate, what are we going to do with family members, what are we doing with kids with multiple parents.”

Additionally, the hospital suddenly needed a lot of negative pressure rooms to prevent cross-contamination.

“With the support and resources that we had, we built more negative pressure rooms and we put doors on rooms that would normally have a curtain,” she said. “We separated waiting areas so we could keep patients separate out there. We built an entire room out in our waiting area with a door that’s completely enclosed and also has negative pressure.”

Nurses were also separated, so those who treated non-covid patients we not exposed to those who cared for covid patients.

“Through all of this, never one time was I worried or in need of PPE,” Widgeon added. “I always had gloves. I always had masks. I always had an N95. I always had goggles. I always had gowns, and that was another really amazing thing that we were able to do to keep each other and our patients safe.”

Greg Shockley, owner of Shenanigan’s Irish Pub in Ocean City and chairman of the hospital’s Board of Trustees, commended Widgeon and her fellow nurses for the “tremendous job” they did in caring for patients during the pandemic.

Shockley also thanked the council and the public for their support of healthcare professionals.

Michael Franklin

Then, Michael Franklin, president and CEO of Atlantic General Hospital and Health System, led an overview of FY2020 and what is to come in FY2021. He said the health system is updating its strategic plan beyond 2020, noting that the Board of Trustees, which includes Councilman Jay Knerr, has redefined the vision, mission and values stated in the plan.

“We’ve essentially renewed our vows in a way to the community and what it is that we’re going to be doing for the community over the next several years,” Franklin said.

The vision of Atlantic General Hospital is now “to be the leader in caring for people and advancing health for the residents of and visitors to our community,” while the mission statement is “to provide a coordinated care delivery system with access to quality care, personalized service and education to create a healthy community.”

The strategic plan focuses on five principles – the right hospital, the right partners, the right place, the right people and the right care.

“We’ve also been working on creating a care coordination team through our community in conjunction with making sure we’re doing a good job with transitions of care between the hospital and back home with our patients,” Franklin said. “But health equity is another piece of the environment that we need to make sure is created throughout our region, particularly as it relates to access to healthcare services.”

He added that greater efforts in telemedicine as well as health literacy and promotion will take place for increased health equity.

In FY20, Franklin said the hospital had more patient days of care but fewer patients admitted than the year before, as patients with covid-19 stayed. The average length of stay for patients was four days.

He added that people were staying away from the hospital because they were afraid of contracting the virus there. However, no staff members have been infected with the virus while caring for patients with covid-19.

Atlantic General Hospital billed $171.94 million in FY20 and received $132.27 million.

Furthermore, Franklin said patients will be encouraged to return to normal relationships with physicians in the community, especially since vaccines have become available to certain priority groups.

PHOTO COURTESY ATLANTIC GENERAL HOSPITAL
Michael Franklin, president and CEO of Atlantic General Hospital and Health System, told the Berlin mayor and Town Council last Monday that more than $15 million in healthcare services were provided at no cost with 33,472 encounters with the community, including flu and covid-19 vaccination clinics, during FY2020.

As for community impact during the last fiscal year, Franklin said more than $15 million in healthcare services were provided at no cost with 33,472 encounters with the community, including flu and covid-19 vaccination clinics.

Atlantic General Hospital also maintains more than 930 positions for residents and a total payroll over $59 million, which is spent on the Eastern Shores of Maryland and Virginia and in Delaware.

The medical staff of 254 professionals includes anesthesiologists, management, cardiologists, physicians, gastroenterologists, gynecologists, neurologists, pediatricians and radiologists.

“A big part of this is adding new physicians to our community,” Franklin said.

Dr. Jason Smith joined urology, Dr. Bryce Blanton joined psychiatry, Dr. Kanika Trehan joined general surgery, Dr. John Whittaker joined primary care and Dr. Freaw Dejenie joined gastroenterology at the Atlantic General health system. The health system has also expanded access to care through more advanced practice providers, such as nurse practitioners or physician assistants, who can practice independently, he said.

In addition, Franklin said preliminary numbers for Maryland and Atlantic General Hospital showed a disproportionate number of white individuals receiving the covid-19 vaccine compared to people of color.

“We’ve begun to work with our faith-based communities in partnership with us throughout the region and bringing the church leaders and the faith-based community leaders together to help people navigate the technology that’s necessary to get an appointment to go to one of these vaccination clinics because the only way they’re available through the state system is through online technology,” he said.

A focused clinic for faith-based communities of color was held last Saturday.

Lastly, master facility planning to expand healthcare services to Ocean Pines is underway again now that the height of the pandemic is over. Franklin presented renderings for a proposed medical office building. The plan is to offer ambulatory surgery services and expand forms of specialty care.