Dear Colleagues,
I cannot express my gratitude enough to the faculty, nurses and staff on the frontline. I applaud our researchers’ quick response in creating COVID-19 studies and the many others working remotely to keep operations going. The generosity of our community during this crisis is overwhelming. The San Francisco General Hospital Foundation raised over $3 million and the Heising-Simon Foundation donated $2 million. These gifts have allowed us to expand testing and provide additional PPE for our frontline workers. Additionally, numerous donations of food and other goods have been gratefully accepted and distributed.
The UCSF community at ZSFG’s impressive ability to change the way we do business during a worldwide pandemic is not new. We have a history of persevering through the discomforts of our learning curves to come out the other side with refined work priorities and behaviors, new innovations and technologies and a deep commitment to share with other communities. The historical articles below are a reminder of how we have fought, and continue to fight, other epidemics worldwide. TB and AIDS research are still prominent at ZSFG under the leadership of
Diane Havlir
and
Joel Ernst
.
Today I would like to recognize the essential UCSF staff who show up every day in critical, although not highly visible ways.The worldwide run on manufacturers and vendors forces
Biomedical Engineering Services
to be creative about sourcing and refurbishing found equipment.
The typical course of the COVID-19 disease process demands that
Respiratory Therapists
watch patients more carefully, adjust their airflow more quickly, manage their oxygen longer and apply time-intensive Prone Ventilation treatments.
Clinical Laboratory staff
work 24 hours every day, developing important new tests and increasing their testing capacity. UCSF
Inpatient Social Workers
are often a patient's only consistent link to outpatient providers, conservators, family, and other members of the community who are no longer allowed to come to the hospital.
UCSF IT Field Services at ZSFG
quickly mobilized to outfit providers with laptops, cameras and other equipment so they could meet with patients during shelter in place.
Read more here
.
The managers of each of these teams expressed pride for their staff’s resilience and their commitment of support for the patients, their teams and their colleagues at the hospital. In true UCSF at ZSFG spirit, they made necessary changes quickly, altered their daily routines, and jumped in to help. I would like to recognize each and every one of them for their essential contribution.
Please take care of yourselves and use the links below to wellness resources that may be helpful.
“Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space. Invite one to stay.” Maya Angelou
Thank you,
A. Sue Carlisle, MD, PhD
Vice Dean
UCSF School of Medicine, ZSFG
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