(Courtesy of St. Mary’s General Hospital) On December 2, Edward J. Condit, RRT, MBA, president and CEO of St. Mary’s General Hospital, conducted the annual public meeting—virtual this year due to COVID-19. It was a tough year for all hospitals in the country, with COVID-19 coming on early in the year and having the patient census reach 99% COVID cases.

With the first wave of COVID, St. Mary’s General implemented a disaster plan in February and admitted the first positive case on March 9. By mid-April the census was at the highest point, and we set up a command center and emergency room triage tents in addition to converting different units to COVID-19 units. This continued as we opened a fast track for COVID-19 in the emergency department and expanded the intensive care and progressive care units. Personal protection equipment (PPE) including masks, gloves, scrubs and shoe covers were in heavy demand, but we never ran out of PPE supplies or suppliers.

During this period and continuing even today, staff communication was/is critical, along with communication to the communities served. “We had twice-a-day conference calls with executives and directors,” said George Matyjewicz, PhD, community liaison at St. Mary’s General Hospital. “Everybody reported what was happening in their area, and action decisions were made. We updated the local communities on a regular basis, and we also worked with the COVID-19 task force in the Passaic-Clifton kehilla. These meetings are still held today, except only once a day.”

Testing results were slow in the beginning but improved as more facilities became available. Testing demand increased—all admitted patients and those having elective procedures were tested. The communities were kept informed with updates through city mayors and community health partners.

“One very important effort that the communities made was to show their thanks to our staff,” said Condit. “Staff really appreciated the cards and letters, the drive-by visits, and the food and gifts that they received, which boosted morale as they were on the front line for many extra hours. Some never went home between shifts—true healthcare heroes!”

Dr. Daniel P. Conroy, vice president of medical affairs, discussed medical operations updates including formal affiliations with Rutgers New Jersey School of Medicine, Seton Hall University and Touro College. “We are also building medical leaders with our graduate medical education (GME) residency program together with our sister hospital St. Clare’s of Denville,” said Conroy. “These programs are in internal medicine and podiatric medicine.

“With medical services, we added a new orthopedic center featuring MAKO robotics, a new psychiatric medical care unit and new TrueBeam technology for radiotherapy,” Conroy said. “Areas of special note include chest pain certification, certified geriatric emergency department, state designated heart center and certified stroke center.”

Of course, through all this pandemic, we learned of ransomware and cybersecurity attacks at hospitals. Prime Healthcare, the parent of St. Mary’s General, made sure that new security measures were implemented to prevent cyberattacks and ensure patient privacy.

Condit then finished the meeting with plans going forward through 2021, which include a lung cancer screening program, expanded GME programs in Psych (July 2021), surgery, obstetrics and family medicine, ankle and foot restoration; a bariatric surgery clinic; and a medical clinic. “Together with our sister hospitals St. Clare’s in Denville, Dover and Boonton and St. Michael’s in Newark, we want to let the public understand that we have services that are as good as, or better than, any hospital in the area,” said Condit. “St. Michael’s and St. Mary’s have had heart programs since the 1960s.”

St. Mary’s General Hospital—nationally recognized, locally preferred—among the top hospitals in America for health, quality, and patient safety. The hospital has over 550 physicians and 1,200 employees, with every staff member committed to providing respectful, personalized, high-quality care—to satisfy patients’ needs and exceed their expectations. St. Mary’s General is a proud member of Prime Healthcare, which has won more Patient Safety Excellence Awards for five consecutive years (2016-2020) than any other health system in the country including being named a“Top 15 Healthcare System” by Truven Health Analytics. To learn more about St. Mary’s General Hospital visit https://www.smh-nj.com/ or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StMarysGeneral.

For more information, please contact George Matyjewicz, PhD, community liaison at [email protected].