Like many other clinical departments at El Camino Health, Imaging Services works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is focused on providing high-quality, personalized services to patients quickly and efficiently.
During the pandemic, clinical staff must wear additional protective equipment as a barrier against COVID-19. Being a patient in a hospital during a pandemic can be a stressful experience for patients, and anxiety can increase even more when patients cannot see the faces of the people who are treating them.
Working behind the scenes, and often right in the middle of the front lines, employees in the Patient Experience Department strive to ensure that all patients and visitors have the very best experience possible whenever they visit El Camino Health.
While El Camino Health's most important mission is to "heal, relieve suffering and advance wellness" of the community and its patients, equally important is ensuring that its employees, especially front-line workers, stay healthy in the fight against COVID-19.
Situated in Silicon Valley, El Camino Health, like any high quality healthcare organization, uses technology and data to improve the care they deliver to patients. Making that data available to a wide range of healthcare professionals is one of the challenges for Robert Henehan, Manager, Information Systems Reporting and Business Intelligence, and his team.
Among one of the first hospitals in the nation to see COVID-19 patients, El Camino Health and the Taft Center for Clinical Research has been among the leaders in COVID-19 clinical trials, working with pharmaceutical companies to find solutions to help manage and cure the deadly pandemic.
El Camino Health administered its first COVID-19 vaccinations to hospital front-line workers and physicians on December 18, and, by the end of the year, more than 1,600 employees and travelers, and close to 400 physicians, have received the first in a series of two vaccinations.
Thorough preparation and the ability to be flexible and agile, when necessary, is helping El Camino Health’s Emergency Department and Critical Care Unit continue to provide high quality care as the number of COVID-19 patients and overall patient volume continued to grow through November and December.
As the Environmental Health and Safety Manager for El Camino Health, preparing for emergencies, large or small, is a routine part of the job for Steve Weirauch.
From the start of the pandemic, El Camino Health treated any patient entering the emergency rooms as a potential patient with COVID-19 who posed a risk of spreading the virus.
The command center at El Camino Health was in operation for an unprecedented 72 days on the Mountain View campus and fully activated within 24 hours of the first patient with COVID-19 arriving in the emergency room.
A quick shift in focus for both the patient care resources and human resources teams was needed during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to address evolving safety challenges requiring fast action.
Readiness, vigilance and all-in when needed are the strongholds and proof points of El Camino Health’s infection prevention commitment when it comes to annual flu outbreaks and especially the most recent coronavirus pandemic.
Taking immediate action to address health emergencies is just as important now as in times before the COVID-19 pandemic, especially if you are experiencing symptoms of a stroke.
Seeing community needs growing daily and people searching for life-sustaining resources almost from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic compelled El Camino Health’s community benefit team to proactively ramp up efforts to provide emergency grants to help address vital needs and increase resources.
When people think of pharmacy services, what usually comes to mind is the pharmacist behind the counter dispensing medications, not the myriad of services involved in ensuring El Camino Health patients receive the right medications at the right dosage in a seamless fashion.
By the time El Camino Health’s critical care unit (CCU) in Mountain View received its first patient with COVID-19, preparations had already been well underway to ensure patients would be cared for appropriately and staff kept safe.
Immunosuppressed patients fighting cancer and other diseases have little choice whether to continue lifesaving treatment, making COVID-19 one more obstacle to overcome.
The environmental services (EVS) and transport teams diligently work behind the scenes to prevent the spread of infection within El Camino Health hospitals.
When employees at El Camino Health hospitals began working long, exhausting hours during the COVID-19 pandemic, the nutritional services team wanted to help ease the burden.
As the nation honors volunteers during National Healthcare Volunteer Week, never before has it seemed more important to honor and thank hospital volunteers for their commitment and compassion shown toward patients, staff and the community.
Just a few short weeks ago, most people had no idea what a respiratory therapist does nor did people understand the lifesaving role they often have in caring for patients every day.
Follow Mary’s inspiring path at El Camino Health, where her experiences as a candy striper and mentor help shape the future of young volunteers and support patients.
Engaging staff from all levels of an organization to focus on one key initiative can seem like a monumental task, regardless of the size and scope of the organization. This was the challenge as El Camino Hospital embarked on its journey last year to reduce Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI), a leading cause of unexpected death for hospital patients across the nation.
It was a volunteer position in high school that inspired Roxy to pursue a career in nursing and set her sights on becoming a part of El Camino Health’s hospital family.
