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 This message is from Brian Nester, DO, MBA, FACOEP, President and Chief Executive Officer, Lehigh Valley Health Network. 




Dear Colleagues,
The amazing team at LVHN is strong. And, our strength is exactly what we need during this tough fight. I am incredibly thankful for all you are doing for our patients, our community and for one another. As every day passes, I become even more LVHN Proud of our remarkable team and our world-class health network.

Week Four of COVID-19 operations has come and gone. As expected, the number of confirmed cases in our region and the number of patients we are caring for continue to increase significantly. This past week, I had the opportunity to meet colleagues on the front lines at LVH–Pocono, LVH–Muhlenberg and LVH–Cedar Crest. Their dedication, expertise, bravery and heroism (yes, the work of our health care professionals is heroic) were inspiring. And, I am certain they inspire every person and every family we continue to serve during this crisis, as well as every LVHN colleague. The stories and faces from these visits and other postings of our colleagues are on full display on our new website, LVHN.org/COVIDSTRONG, and on social media. Also front and center in Week Four were our actions to transform LVHN into a digital health system. As an example, by building on our Epic and IT infrastructure, more than 65 percent of our LVPG encounters are now performed virtually rather than face-to-face. In addition, we are supporting 22 different types of digital encounters. This has been an extraordinary technologic and human transformation, led by our remarkable LVPG and Technology colleagues – another heroic accomplishment, with even more to come.

Here is a list of what we accomplished this past week:

As we start Week Five, we will continue to focus our efforts on enhancing our surge preparedness to deliver timely and innovative care strategies during these emergency conditions. Here is what we're working on:
  • Continuous planning for medical-surgical and critical care bed and staffing demands, with ongoing load balancing, as needed, between health network campuses
  • Continuous aggressive supply chain actions with our vendors and legislators to ensure adequate PPE for our teams, sufficient testing supplies for Health Network Laboratories (HNL) and critical medications for our patients
  • Ongoing advocacy with state and federal agencies and legislators to ensure Pennsylvania (and LVHN) receives its fair share of disaster relief dollars, given our adjacency to the metro New York epicenter of COVID-19
  • Ongoing analysis and compilation of the latest COVID-19 projections, applied to the Greater Lehigh Valley region (and to each county and hospital campus) to ensure specificity in decision-making
  • Accelerating use of video visits and other virtual care delivery methods outlined above to enhance access for COVID-19 related problems and to maintain access for all routine medical issues
  • Continuously enhance our internal testing capacity at HNL. Through the extraordinary work of HNL, our health network is a leader in COVID-19 testing in Pennsylvania, responsible for 16 percent of all testing in the state. This valuable competency will enhance our tracing of COVID-19-positive patients and help to reduce the spread.
  • Sharing more of your stories of hope, care and courage on LVHN.org/COVIDSTRONG. Please keep sending your pictures, videos and stories. We want to profile your extraordinary work and strength. Your stories are inspiring to your colleagues and our community members.

There is one more thing we all must do in the weeks ahead. It is something we've been doing since the start of this outbreak. Please continue to tell your family, friends and neighbors that the most important thing they can do to keep themselves and others safe is STAY HOME. When I visited with our front-line colleagues this past week, I asked them to provide advice to their colleagues across the health network and to the communities they serve. The most frequently noted bit of advice was also STAY HOME. So, honor our front-line providers by sharing their message loud and clear to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Even though this message is being shared from seemingly every news outlet and health care organization in the nation, we know that some people are not heeding the warning. We cannot stress enough the importance of practicing social distancing and the fact that violating this rule can have deadly consequences.

Until Week Six, thank you for being COVID STRONG and LVHN Proud. Stay safe.



Brian Nester, DO, MBA, FACOEP
President and Chief Executive Officer, Lehigh Valley Health Network

Copyright © 2020 Lehigh Valley Physician Hospital Organization, Inc./Valley Preferred, All rights reserved.


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