From the Heart: 166 reasons to be Tammany proud

Wednesday, May 27, 2020 | Vol. 1, No. 4

It takes a ~~village~~ parish

Nine-year-old Brody of Folsom just wanted to help local healthcare heroes. So, he put a shoebox in his driveway with a sign soliciting donations. The good people of Folsom ponied up $166 for Brody’s fund, which he proudly donated Tuesday to the St. Tammany Hospital Foundation.

Hunter is a 6-year-old member of First Baptist Church of Covington. Upon celebrating his birthday recently, he insisted his gift money – all $20 of it – go to help “the doctors and nurses.”

This week, we at STHS marked our 100th COVID-positive inpatient to be discharged, and we wanted to take a moment to thank Brody, Hunter and all the people behind the countless similar acts of generosity that have helped us do our work so effectively.

From its founding as a community hospital in 1954, St. Tammany Health System has been dedicated to the wellness of the people of St. Tammany Parish. If the COVID crisis has done anything, it’s made it clear that you, our neighbors, are just as dedicated to helping us in that mission.

So, thank you to all of our community partners, the big ones and the small ones alike. We’ve all still got work to do to get through this – including exercising personal responsibility to curb the spread of the disease -- but as long as we do it together, we will beat COVID-19.

Community Checkup with Joan Coffman

The healthcare professionals at STHS were heroes before COVID-19 came along, as evidenced by the list of awards and accolades the hospital continues to receive, and they’ll be heroes long after it’s gone, STHS President & CEO Joan Coffman says in her latest update.

St. Tammany Health System - Always heroes

‘They saved my life’

"You’ve got to trust us,” Wesley Doyle remembers the nurses at STHS telling him that night in early April. “We’re good at our job. Trust us.”

But he was still scared. Terrified, even.

The veteran law enforcement officer had seen and done a lot in his 43 years. He had never, however, spent a night in the hospital -- and he had definitely never been on a ventilator, which is exactly what the doctors and nurses at STHS were proposing to give his lungs a break to recover from the COVID-19 coronavirus.

The following two weeks would change Doyle profoundly. This is his story.

(Spoiler alert: It ends happily.)

From the archives

Sixty-seven years ago this month, the first shovel of dirt was moved in the construction of St. Tammany Parish Hospital, now St. Tammany Health System. We decided to mark the occasion with some digging of our own, uncovering archival images and press clippings about that first step to better health for St. Tammany Parish.

Contact tracing 101

By now, you’ve probably heard about contact tracing as a method to control the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. But what is “contact tracing,” exactly? And how does it work? Here are the answers to a number of frequently asked questions about contact tracing, based on information provided by the Louisiana Department of Health.

Antibody testing

STHS is now offering COVID-19 antibody testing at its diagnostic clinics in Mandeville and Covington. No appointment is necessary, although patients will need a physician’s order. Patients may opt to use their health insurance or pay the $55 cash price. More information about the program can be found at the link below.

Blood drive

With the Blood Center facing a critical shortage of inventory, St. Tammany Health System will host a blood drive from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday (June 2) near the main entrance to its hospital campus in Covington. Social distancing protocols will be enforced for safety. Appointments aren’t necessary but are encouraged.

St. Tammany Health System