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Layoffs? Not at CHI St. Alexius
Layoffs and furloughs have been happening at hospitals locally and nationally. Since COVID-19, nurses and other hospital staff - those who may not be on the front lines, but work in clinics or elective surgeries, for example - simply have little to no work these days. But a hospital in Bismarck has prided itself on not having to furlough one single employee during this pandemic.
Here’s how hundreds of workers are staying on the payroll. t’s not exactly what they went to college for, but here at CHI St. Alexius, some hundreds of nurses, OR workers, rehab therapists, even Rad Techs, are finding themselves in new roles. The hospital has set up what’s called a “labor pool.”
CHI St. Alexius Health Consistently Ranked Safest Hospital
CHI St. Alexius Health Bismarck has received the highest safety rating in the region by the Leapfrog Group for spring 2020. The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization committed to improving health care quality and safety.
“The Leapfrog Group Hospital Safety Award recognizes how safe CHI St. Alexius Health keeps patients from errors, injuries, accidents and infections. We are proud to consistently receive this high-grade rating of a ‘B’ from The Leapfrog Group,” said Kurt Schley, CHI St. Alexius Health Bismarck President. “Our medical staff, associates and key partners continue to be recognized nationally for their hard work and dedication to ensure safe, high quality care for every patient we serve.”
Williston Requests Visitors Wear Cloth Masks
Starting Wednesday, May 13, CHI St. Alexius Health Williston hospital and clinics ask individuals over the age of two entering their facilities to wear their own mask or face covering. This change will help conserve vital personal protective equipment for our local health care workforce and emergency responders.
Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encourages the public to wear face coverings in places like clinics and hospitals, where it’s not always practical to maintain six feet of separation between individuals. It is important to also practice good hand hygiene to maintain safety. If the facemask is touched, adjusted or removed, hand hygiene should be performed.
CHI St. Alexius Health asks individuals to wear their own masks
Starting Tuesday, May 12, all CHI St. Alexius Health hospitals and clinics ask individuals over the age of two entering their facilities to wear their own fabric mask or homemade face covering. To prevent the possible spread of COVID-19, CHI St. Alexius Health facilities have been supplying medical-grade disposable masks. This change will help conserve vital personal protective equipment for our nation’s health care workforce and emergency responders.
In some instances, hospital staff will provide disposable masks as replacements.
Bismarck hospitals come together to honor nurses
Bismarck's two competing health systems are coming together to take care of the community during the coronavirus pandemic and also to help recognize nurses, who hospital officials say are at the heart of that effort. CHI St. Alexius Health and Sanford Health are presenting sponsors of the second annual Nurses: The Heart of Health Care luncheon honoring 10 local nursing professionals. The Bismarck Tribune event, which is taking on a virtual form this year due to the pandemic, kicked off Tuesday morning with the delivery of 350 boxed lunches sponsored by Bismarck State College to Heaven's Helpers Soup Cafe in Bismarck.
Mandan Couple the First in North Dakota to Have Coronavirus Treated by Plasma
A Mandan couple that received plasma treatment for the coronavirus has now recovered. KX was there as the couple headed home.
“I’m just the happiest person ever that I could get out this hospital alive,” shared Betty Degreef, a coronavirus survivor. Betty, along with her husband, Gery were discharged after spending a total of 32 days in the hospital with COVID-19.
Bismarck nurses steeled for COVID-19 patient care
Kristen Renner helped prepare for the H1N1 and Ebola outbreaks, but neither compares to the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, the intensive care unit clinical supervisor at CHI St. Alexius Health in Bismarck says the goal is the same it has always been.
"No matter what type of patient we care for, we are here for our patients and we will do our best to make them better, to see them walk out of our unit," said Renner, who has a 26-year career in health care.
Sixty-two people have been hospitalized in North Dakota for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Twenty-three patients remained hospitalized on Wednesday, per North Dakota's Department of Health. More than 670 people in the state have been confirmed positive for COVID-19, 229 of whom have recovered. North Dakota has about 21,000 nursing licensing registrants, said State Board of Nursing Executive Director Stacey Pfenning, including 400 certified registered nurse anesthetists who can run ventilators. The state is "positioned very well" from a nursing standpoint, she said -- from getting new graduates started working to easing licensure for former and out-of-state nurses to work.
COVID-19 patients treated with plasma
CHI St. Alexius Health officials on Tuesday said three critically ill patients are improving after they received transfusions of plasma from recovered coronavirus patients on Saturday. Two of the patients have been taken off ventilators since they received the convalescent plasma treatment. The third patient is still on a ventilator but requires less oxygen to be pumped, an encouraging sign, according to hospital officials.
