Timely news from UF Health Jacksonville: March 2020
Dear Friends of UF Health Jacksonville,
 
We hope this finds you well. We send sincerest wishes of good health and well-being to you and your family during these unprecedented times we find ourselves experiencing. 
 
As always, the safety and well-being of our patients, visitors, faculty, staff, friends and volunteers are always at the forefront of what we do. Our leadership continues to make critical decisions in real time, and our health care providers are on the front lines saving lives and keeping Northeast Florida healthy as the world confronts the COVID-19 pandemic. The current health crisis presents a challenge unlike anything we have faced in modern times; however, UF Health is uniquely positioned to care for our community as we have done proudly for the past 150 years.
It is clear that the spread of the virus continues in both in Northeast Florida, throughout the state and across our great nation. We anticipate the peak of the spread to occur within the next few weeks, with increased numbers of patients arriving at our hospitals in northeast Florida and across our system in Gainesville and central Florida. It is our hope that our collective efforts including school closings, government recommendations to telecommute/stay home, social distancing and case isolation will help reduce transmission and the impact on our health care enterprise but across all our systems in northeast Florida and across the state.

We are monitoring national and international trends, and are planning and preparing for what comes next. UF Health is collaborating with our colleagues in other area health systems, as we work tirelessly to combat the Coronavirus crisis together as a community. Dr. Leon Haley Jr., our CEO and Dean of the College of Medicine - Jacksonville, has been featured on numerous news outlets and continues to project a voice of calm in this crisis. You may find a compilation of those interviews  here .  

Some examples of our efforts worth sharing:
  • The Poison Control Center, located on the UF Health Jacksonville downtown campus, is now operating as the call center for the Florida Department of Health.
  • Local restaurants and private individuals have come forward to provide meals for our providers working around the clock.
  • UF Health Jacksonville's own Patient Safety staff are creating face shields and building intubation boxes to protect caregivers and minimize the spread.
  • The Center for Healthy Minds and Practice (CHaMP) at UF Health Jacksonville, remains open and available to our nearly 8,000 employees providing stress management and counseling services in a time of great need for our staff.
  • The University of Florida faculty have designed low-cost, ‘open source’ ventilators made from hardware store items.
  • Alumni who are in the healthcare workforce - many whose practices are closed - have volunteered to be put to work at UF Health, if the need arises.
  • UF Infectious disease teams in Gainesville, Jacksonville and Central Florida are tirelessly responding around-the-clock to the call for help, lending their expertise and addressing many facets of our response to this extraordinary situation. Last week, we rolled out in-house testing capabilities, which greatly speeds the delivery of results for UF Health patients. We now have the capability to run several hundred tests daily with the capacity for significantly more, limited only by reagent availability, which remains in short supply nationally.
  • The UF College of Engineering has offered its 3D-printing technology and design capabilities and are starting on a project to print N95 masks.
  • We have dramatically increased telehealth appointments with patients and set-up specialized clinics at two satellite locations dedicated specifically for patients with respiratory complaints. This allows caregivers to isolate individuals from other patients until physicians can evaluate if a COVID-19 test is warranted— shielding other clinic visitors from possible unintended exposure and preventing overflow to the Emergency Department. 
  • Many of our donors are offering support for our research programs as we harness the university’s expertise to fight this epidemic.
  • An estimated 30 faculty members and master's students from the College of Public Health and Health Professions in Gainesville have volunteered through a state task force on contact tracing and are out in the community working with Department of Health officials on this initiative.
We truly appreciate the giving spirit of our community and everyone who has reached out with thoughtful words and empathy for health providers and support staff on the front-lines. One recent example includes a local florist with a surplus of flowers due to a canceled wedding who created a beautiful floral heart installation to lift spirits on our campus. Knowing we have the support of our friends and organizational partners is truly inspiring.
 
As you and your families continue to navigate these uncertain times, remember that UF Health is a resource for you. Please continue to practice social distancing, be vigilant with your health, and follow the guidelines posted on the  CDC website  to help prevent the spread of this dangerous disease.

We are in this together.
Take good care,
 
UF Health Jacksonville – Office of Development
University of Florida
(904) 244-1060

P.S. If you have an interest in supporting UF Health’s needs or the morale of our caregivers, thank you and please visit our website  here and please consider sharing the below images on your social media.
UF Health Jacksonville | ufhealthjax.org
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