April 2020 COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER
Petersburg Medical Center Newsletter
▲ Face masks play an important role at Petersburg Medical Center as staff make efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Elizabeth Hart, RN, Skilled Nursing coordinator, is wearing a paper surgical mask.

▲ Jolyn Duddles, RN, sports a face shield and N95 mask in this photo.

▲ Liz Bacom, Infection Prevention and Quality manager for PMC, is wearing a cloth face mask. Home sewers all over the country are working hard to make masks for health care workers and the public.
NEWSLETTER BANNER PHOTO: PMC staff and Hospital Board members met on April 23 via Zoom. The online virtual meeting plat form allows users to join from their computer with audio and video, or by phone.
MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
COVID-19 response continues at PMC
COVID-19: Petersburg Medical Center has adapted work practices in an effort to protect employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare workers are at high risk for COVID exposure. We are taking all necessary measures to keep each other safe.

Roughly 40 PMC employees are now working from home, many full-time. Meetings are convened telephonically or via Zoom videoconference, including monthly board meetings and upcoming PMC Foundation Board meetings. 

Staff working in the facility are requested to create social distancing pathways. To help limit exposure, we’ve asked departments to establish at least two teams that are not on the premises at the same time and do not cross pathways.

RAPID TESTING: The state approved and sent two Abbott ID point-of-care testing units to PMC to increase our capacity to test for COVID-19. Testing is rapid and specific to COVID-19, but with some limited sensitivity; positive results are accurate, but negative results must be sent to a commercial lab for confirmation. We are still advocating aggressively for increased testing capacity.  

COVID-19 HOTLINE: Think you’re experiencing COVID-19 symptoms? Please call our COVID-19 hotline number, 907-772-5788 , to speak with a medical professional. You’ll be advised as to whether you should come to the drive-through station for testing. 

STAY INFORMED: We share frequent COVID-19 updates with the community.
  • Tune in to KFSK Monday-Friday at 12:30pm for COVID-19 information.
  • We provide the latest hospital updates on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/petersburgmedicalcenter/ 
  • Check the COVID-19 Information Hub website, our unified command page with the Borough: https://www.psgcovidinfo.net/
  • Check our website for updates as well: https://www.pmcak.org/

Stay home, stay safe!

— Phil Hofstetter, CEO, PMC
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
New YouTube channel connects PMC with community members
Petersburg Medical Center is working on ways to creatively stay connected with our community. This month, PMC created a YouTube channel. We have many staff working on educational videos. Stacie McKinley and Molly Platt, our physical therapists, have been working hard on posting new fitness videos regularly.

Videos on our YouTube channel include:
  • Tutorial on how to safely use a homemade fabric mask
  • Postural and scapular strengthening
  • Core strength
  • Stretching
  • Balance
  • Partner workout
  • HIIT block
  • Therabands

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2unhQa1k4rDNH_x7t4u4rA/featured

Be on the lookout for more videos!
▲ PMC physical therapists Molly Platt and Stacie McKinley are working on more educational YouTube videos for our staff and community.
▲ Grady Walker and his family helped keep Petersburg clean by picking up trash during PMC’s first Community Healthy Series event.
HEALTH & WELLNESS
PMC launches event series to promote health in community
Petersburg Medical Center is hosting a series of healthy events to encourage and engage Petersburg residents in healthy behaviors—while social distancing—during the COVID-19 pandemic. Events are interactive and use social media, print media and/or radio to encourage connectedness among Petersburg residents.

To kick off our Community Healthy Series, PMC partnered with Petersburg Borough Public Works, Petersburg Borough Sanitation Department, and Petersburg City Schools to involve residents in cleaning up a street, trail, or other outdoor space for Earth Day. Thank you to all who participated!

PMC next partnered with Beat the Odds for their Circle of Life Race Against Cancer virtual run, April 25-May 2. The first 100 registered participants received a reflective Buff neck gaiter.

Watch for more information about upcoming events!
MEET THE STAFF
From CNA to ward clerk to pre-nursing student, she loves working at PMC
A year after graduating from Petersburg High School, Erica O’Neil joined the staff at Petersburg Medical Center as a certified nurse assistant in Long Term Care. 

Eleven years later, Erica is still with PMC—handling administrative tasks as ward clerk, filling in periodically as a CNA, and now working toward a nursing degree.

“I love getting to work closely with the nurses,” Erica said. “I feel like I’m always learning something new and it has helped me make the decision to pursue a nursing career.” 

Erica started at Petersburg Medical Center in 2009 and worked as a CNA until 2014. After giving birth to her daughter, she transitioned to working as a ward clerk while maintaining CNA licensure. 

To boost her skills as ward clerk, Erica completed the Certified Healthcare Access Associate course and national exam in 2015. The program focused on aspects of healthcare such as patient registration, insurance, and customer service. 

“I feel like it helped me understand the flow of the entire healthcare system better and gave me the tools I needed to do my job that much better,” Erica said. 

Erica loves the variety of her job. As ward clerk, she registers patients, answers calls, and takes care of many administrative tasks. As a CNA, she gets to work hands-on with acute care patients and Long Term Care residents. She loves that she sits right down the hall from LTC and can interact with the residents daily. 

The best part of her job, Erica says, is working with amazing people every day. Working alongside PMC’s nursing team inspired her to start taking prerequisite courses for admission into the University of Alaska Anchorage School of Nursing. She is excited to finally pursue her dream. “Better late, than never,” she said.

Born and raised in Petersburg, Erica met her husband, Scott, shortly after high school graduation. They were married in 2015 and have two children: Gavin, 9, and Olivia, 5. The family enjoys camping, fishing, hunting, and exploring and adventuring in the outdoors. Erica also loves to bake—and nap.
▲ Erica and her husband, Scott, enjoy fishing.

▲ Erica ’ s two kids: Gavin and Olivia.

▲ Erica at her sister Taylor ’ s wedding with their other sister, Rachel.
▲ Kelsey Lambe, Public Relations coordinator, with fianc é Trevor McCay and daughter Hayden.

▲ Kelsey and daughter Hayden, almost 3.
DEPARTMENT SPOTLIGHT
PMC Public Relations staff of one keeps community informed
Desperate times call for desperate measures. When you’re working from home and have no one to talk to, you write about your own department! 

Petersburg Medical Center’s public relations coordinator is me—Kelsey Lambe. 

My job focuses on making sure the community has all the information they need about PMC activities and services.

Here are some of the things I do:
  • Maintain the Petersburg Medical Center website, Facebook page and Instagram page. 
  • Provide information to the Petersburg Pilot for PMC ads.
  • Schedule public service announcements and coordinate with PMC staff to appear on KFSK’s PMC Live program.
  • Update hospital bulletin boards.
  • Create fliers for hospital events and announcements.
  • Plan our biannual health fair.
  • Coordinate PMC Foundation activities. This involves writing meeting agendas, taking minutes, handling scholarship applications, planning our annual meeting, writing the annual newsletter, and planning the annual Paddle Battle. 
  • Create this monthly online newsletter that began in November 2018, with help from Long Term Care Activities Director Janna Machaleck, who submits LTC news, and Carol Gales, who edits and finalizes the newsletter. 
  • Head PMC’s Employee Voice committee. 
  • Organize staff picnics and help coordinate PMC’s Christmas party.

My job is interesting because not only do I learn a lot about healthcare and PMC’s work in the community, but I also get to learn more about what drives our hard-working employees.
LONG TERM CARE UPDATE
Residents feel love from family and friends across social distance
Social distancing precautions prevent our residents from socializing in person with family and community members, but we’re finding other ways for them to stay connected.

Activities staff help residents stay in touch with loved ones via emails, phone calls, and video calls. Sarah Hofstetter, who had been leading a weekly in-person singalong, has been video chatting with residents individually, playing song requests as residents sing along. Friends, hospital staff, and community members are sending photos, videos, artwork, and kind messages that we display on a “Love to PSG LTC” bulletin board and on a monitor outside the kitchen. Residents have had visits via the kitchen windows with loved ones below. We’ve also started a weekly newsletter for residents’ families.
 
Residents continue to enjoy individual activities such as brain games, coloring, bracelet making, music, folding and organizing craft materials, doing puzzles, and walking for exercise. Physical therapy has been doing individualized workouts with residents.
  
You can help brighten our residents’ days! Please post drawings, photos, and video clips online with the hashtag #love2psgltc and we will add them to the bulletin board.
 
If you would like us to play a video, slideshow, or photos on the TV here in LTC, please email your files (.mov or .jpg) to [email protected].

We are grateful for everyone who has reached out to the residents during this time and are feeling the love!
▲ Ray Olsen, LTC resident, works on puzzles with Grace Bieber, LTC activities assistant.

▲ Gladys Olsen, LTC resident, watches the LTC slideshow of community photos.

Petersburg Medical Center | 907-772-4291 | [email protected]