Now For some Good News: Healthcare Heroes

Dr. Aaron Martin

Dr. Aaron Martin, Children’s Hospital pediatric urologist and telemedicine directors, had a difficult task a head of him only one week ago. When the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of New Orleans, and routine appointments at Children’s Hospital were being cancelled to prevent unnecessary contact, Dr. Martin knew his telemedicine program could be part of the solution. With a small number of providers utilizing Children’s Hospital’s Virtual Care services, Dr. Martin and his team got to work. Signing as many providers on as they could, the Virtual Care roster went from 30 to 200 in a matter of days. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, the hospital was seeing about 250 virtual visits a month.. Now, the hospital’s providers are able to see that many in just one day. Thanks to Dr. Martin and his team, the number of virtual visits at Children’s Hospital increased by 3,000 percent, and most importantly, young Children’s Hospital patients are able to see their providers in the safest way possible.

Children’s Hospital Supply Chain Team

The Children’s Hospital Supply Chain team was faced with a challenge, many hospitals and clinics across the country are also experiencing – how to get Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when it’s in short supply. The team at Children’s Hospital continues to work around the clock to ensure the hospital’s doctors, nurses, patients and their families have the PPE that they need to protect them against the spread of COVID-19. This week, the hospital celebrated a PPE win with LCMC Health receiving 17 pallets of PPE from the state.  It’s easy to forget about the essential health workers that are behind the scenes, but let’s remember that the frontline workers would not be able to do their jobs safely if it were not for teams like this one.

Dr. Chip Roth

Dr. Chip Roth, a pediatric urologist at Children’s Hospital New Orleans,  joined a movement, “Food for the Front Lines” started by local fitness group, F3 NOLA. Food for the Front Lines aims to support two groups who are especially struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic – healthcare workers and local restaurants – by raising money, buying food from local eateries, and delivering the food to frontline healthcare workers. Dr. Roth joined this group and continues to help raise money for this cause because he understands how special it is as a healthcare worker how just to know you’re being thought of, and how that helps those frontline workers continue on.

Dr. Matthew Stark

Before the outbreak of coronavirus in New Orleans, Children’s Hospital had a Blood Drive scheduled in coordination with The Blood Center. As businesses were closing and major events were being cancelled, Children’s Hospital leadership thought it best to cancel the blood drive too. Dr. Matthew Stark, a pathologist at Children’s Hospital, urged leadership to allow the blood drive to continue, as Children’s Hospital and many other hospitals across the city are experiencing blood shortages. Adhering to social distancing guidelines, the hospital forged on with the blood drive and saw an overwhelming response from Children’s Hospital staff, providers, and the community. The drive was so successful that the hospital held an additional blood drive the very next day. Thanks to Dr. Stark’s advocacy and the generosity of the community, The Blood Center reported that they received 258 blood donations, almost meeting the daily blood supply needed for the total community of 350.

We want to thank Marykay Yrle Thevis, Communications Specialist at Children’s Hospital New Orleans for finding and writing these for us.