Dear Colleagues,
April 7, 2020, started just like any other day for me in the COVID-19-era. I had a lovely commute to the office, making record time with almost no cars on the road. I had several morning Zoom/Microsoft Teams calls before I received a call from Karen Lemaire. Karen reminded me of a text message I had sent a few days before to Dr. Boland, who had recently redeployed to lead Boston Hope at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The text message said, "Let me know if we can be of any help." Karen was calling to notify me that I could be of help. I was officially redeployed that day to Boston Hope to serve as the Safety Officer. I had a conversation with Dr. Boland later that day, who told me to get some sleep because I was going to need it. Boy, was that an understatement!
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Boston Hope is a 1,000-bed hospital divided into two sections of 500 beds each. The hospital was built in two massive rooms of the convention center in less than one week. The work was not simply building rooms and putting in beds. Oxygen had to be piped in from outside, and equipment had to be brought in from other hospitals (including Brigham Health), and ordered by MGB. We had to develop policies and procedures for donning and doffing PPE, create and identify 'clean' and 'dirty' areas, and install showers and build bathrooms in the unit. This work was a massive undertaking requiring a lot of people, and a serious amount of caffeine.
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It's hard to believe that I have only been away from BH Radiology for about a month. It feels like it has been so much longer, but I've been fortunate to be able to learn a great deal from this experience at Boston Hope, and have met a lot of great people along the way. I'm also fortunate that Brigham Radiology has been staffing the x-ray service here, so I have been able to see a lot of friendly and familiar faces each day. The Radiology team on site, led by Michael DelVecchio, has been incredibly helpful from the beginning, always willing to assist with non-Radiology tasks, such as N95 fit testing. Additionally, in the past couple of weeks, a few more Brigham Radiology team members have been redeployed to Boston Hope to work on the Quality and Safety Team with me, and I want to thank them for their flexibility and collegiality. Michael Gulla, the Practice Administrator for Interventional Radiology, joined the Boston Hope Team and manages our donning and doffing processes. Jessica Lorusso, Program Manager for Lung Cancer Screening & Radiology Safety Nets, has redeployed to Boston Hope for half of her time, where she manages our N95 fit testing processes. Michael and Jessica have made significant and positive impacts at Boston Hope from the day they arrived.
I expect that day-to-day operations at Boston Hope will begin to wind down within the next few weeks, assuming a continued decline in COVID-19 cases, and I can gradually start making my way back to Brigham Radiology. I appreciate the Quality, Safety, and Experience Team in Radiology for 'holding down the fort' and keeping our key initiatives moving during my time away. Many thanks to Dr. Ramin Khorasani, Taj Qureshi, Dr. Neena Kapoor, Dr. Atul Shinagare, Jessica Lorusso, and Victoria Glassman for their many contributions. Lastly, thank you for all that you do for our patients and each other to keep everyone safe. We have busy days ahead in the coming weeks, but we have a great team (all of you!) to help us to get to the other side of this.
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Patrick Curley
Safety Officer, Incident Command
Boston Hope
Senior Director, Quality, Safety and Experience
Department of Radiology
Brigham Health
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"When time is tight, eating well often drops to the bottom of the priority list. Utilize the below tips to set yourself up for a week of balanced meals and snacks. As always, thank you for all that you do."
-
Emily Blake, MS, RD, LDN
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Prep Time:
10 minutes
Cook Time:
40 minutes
Total Time:
50 minutes
Servings:
4
Ingredients:
1lb chicken breast
1 package fajita seasoning
1 package frozen bell peppers and onion mix
2T canola oil
6” tortillas x8
1 cup pre-shredded cheese
1 jar salsa
Optional:
1 medium lime
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Empty bag of frozen vegetables into large 13x15 inch casserole dish. Slice the chicken breast into very thin strips and add it to the casserole dish with the vegetables. Drizzle the canola oil over the chicken and vegetables and sprinkle the fajita seasoning mix over top. Use your hands to toss the ingredients until everything is well coated in oil and seasoning. Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, stirring once halfway through.
Optional: Squeeze the juice from half of the lime over top of the meat and vegetables after they come out of the oven.
Scoop a small amount of meat and vegetables into the center of each tortilla. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and salsa.
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We Want To Hear From You!
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The Department of Radiology has come together in extraordinary ways during the COVID-19 crisis. We would like to create a graphic that symbolizes our response throughout this time. Please submit one word you believe represents the Department of Radiology
here
.
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Elizabeth Sergienko
and
Dierdre Cahill
ready to take on another day.
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Kimberly Vanyo
and
Christina Eddy
, Technologists working hard at Boston Hope!
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Dierdre Cahill, Michael DelVecchio, Michael Gulla, Jessica Lorusso, Patrick Curley
and
Giles Boland, MD
have all made significant impacts at Boston Hope from the day they arrived.
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The staff and leadership in the community locations have been working diligently to ensure patient safety. In addition to following all screening protocols and universal masking, they have installed plexiglass barriers at all check-in desks and 6-foot line markers on the floors to help guide patients on where to stand. West Bridgewater MRI and Coolidge Corner Imaging are asking patients to wait in their cars to limit the amount of patients in the building at the same time.
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Maura Sweeney
, Practice Assistant Senior, in Foxborough, sits behind a plexiglass shield constructed by Brian Atkinson.
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"I want to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude for all that you are doing to care for our patients during this time and your continued dedication is truly outstanding!"
-
Angela Kelly, Nursing Director
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A
message
from
Maddy Pearson
, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, senior vice president of Clinical Services and Chief Nursing Officer for National Nurses Week.
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"We would like to recognize Leigh Cavanaugh, MR technologist, she has been a BWH MRI employee since 2009. In her down time she loves to take photos. We were lucky enough to be a recipient, she donated several pictures that she had taken of Boston and New York sites. She spends endless hours editing to be sure the photos are of perfect quality. Radiology had them framed and we hung them in our 221 MRI suite. This has brightened our hallway and waiting areas for staff and patients. We would like to thank Leigh for her donation and we are proud to display her work. This is so heartfelt and greatly appreciated, especially during the current state we are all in, it brings a smile to your face!"
-
Lauren Scannell, Clinical Director, MRI
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A few of Leigh's photos below:
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Who is Behind the Mask
will feature a Radiology employee each week. Look out for our next edition to see who was behind the mask!
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Can you guess who is behind the mask?
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How long have you worked for Brigham Health?
34 years
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What location do you work at?
Main Campus
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What do you love most about working for the Department of Radiology?
It is the teamwork that I love the most about Radiology. Everyone that I work with is very team oriented. I try to set a good example to my staff in regards to patient care and customer service for the patients in Radiology. If my team can make it easier to navigate the hospital for a patient then it is a job well done.
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What is on your bucket list?
My husband and I hope to drive along the West Coast, from Vancouver to San Diego after the pandemic of course!
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If you would like to participate in Who is Behind the Mask please submit your request
here
.
All participants will be chosen at random and contacted before distribution.
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Expanded Mental Health and Well-Being Resources
New resources have been added to the
mental health and well-being
section of Partners Pulse, including expanded resiliency trainings for clinical staff, webinars from McLean and more.
There are many ways this crisis might affect your mental health and emotional well-being. Learn more about the available support and resources at Brigham Health on
PikeNotes
.
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Brigham Health Gratitude Board
The
Brigham Health Gratitude Board
captures shining moments and enables staff to recognize each other. Your stories remind us that we are stronger together. Take a moment to share your message of thanks, support and encouragement with your Brigham colleagues to read when they most need it.
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Reflection Rooms Now Available
Are you looking for a quiet moment alone? There are now three Reflection Rooms available for all employees to use. These Reflection Rooms are single-person rooms with comfortable seating, dim lighting and mindfulness resources, and they are intended to supplement existing spaces like Caritas rooms and the Chapel. Reflection rooms are located in
Mid-Campus (near the E elevator)
, on
Braunwald Tower 4A
and on
Shapiro 3
. View a map of all locations
here
.
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Are we missing something?
Submit content for this weekly communication or provide us feedback
here
.
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