COVID-19 Heroes Recognized by Ozarks Healthcare

Even as news of the arrival of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in the county broke last week, the Annual Report published by Ozarks Healthcare breathes a message of hope and triumph over difficult circumstances. Though the release of the annual report is routine, 2020 was a year that disregarded all routines. In addition to publishing information regarding the facility’s rebranding, its volume of patients, and other statistics, the report focused a great deal of information on the facility’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Five medical professionals were named as “COVID-19 Heroes” for their outstanding commitment to the community and for their touching personal sacrifices. 

 

Brook Keeling, RN, Critical Care Manager

Keeling was involved in the development of the hospital’s first COVID-19 unit, the Viral Intensive Care Unit (VICU) and treated the hospital’s initial cases of the virus. She showed leadership in teaching new skills and practices to her colleagues in order to expand treatment capabilities. Providing critical care during the pandemic presented enormous personal challenges for Keeling. She and her husband made the difficult decision to send their children away during the early days of the pandemic, and she had to intubate her own grandfather. Recently, she was able to vaccinate her father. 

“Her commitment to our frontline, her staff, and her family led her and her husband to make yet another life altering decision. They decided to move their family’s roots closer to Brook’s work so that she could be closer to her patients,” reads the annual report. 

 

Dr. Curtis Horstman, Medical Director of the Emergency Department

The report credits Dr. Horstman for the sacrifices he made spending hours of his personal time to prepare and educate hospital staff members before the impact of the pandemic took hold in this region. He even isolated from his wife, Robbyn, in an apartment in order to keep working. 

 

Katie Mahan, Pharmacy Director

Mahan’s work is credited with the approval of Ozarks Healthcare as a COVID-19 vaccination site. She was so invested in being present for administering the first doses that she cancelled a special holiday vacation with her husband and three children. In December 2020, Mahan helped vaccinate frontline coworkers and medical staff who volunteered to receive the organization’s first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

 

Dr. Priscilla Frase, Hospitalist and Chief Medical Information Officer 

Dr. Frase developed several innovative technological tools to streamline care of acute COVID patients at the hospital. The report also credits her “tireless hours” spent working to bring monoclonal antibody therapy to Ozarks Healthcare, a treatment designed to limit the severity of COVID-19 illness. 

 

Kurt Abbey, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Nursing Officer, and leader of the Incident Command Committee

The report also acknowledged the hospital’s COO, CNO, and leader of the team that guided the facility’s COVID response, the Incident Command Committee. Kurt Abbey “spent the last year in the thick of COVID-19.” Not only is he credited with devotion to planning operations behind the scenes, but he also jumped in while staffing resources were strained and treated patients face to face. 

 

Twice in December 2020, the number of COVID patients at Ozarks Healthcare peaked at 19, but overall the hospital cared for 281 patients struggling with the novel virus according to the Annual Report. The facility administered 9,420 tests, and answered 19,807 calls through their COVID-19 hotline. 

On June 30, Howell County Health Department Director Chris Gilliam announced that the Department received notification of the first confirmed COVID-19 test has subtyped as the Delta variant in Howell County.   Gilliam added that he firmly believes that the presence of new Delta variant in the county should be cause for concern for the local community.  He stated his concern with the Delta variant is based primarily on three factors:

-Recent studies indicate this strain to be 50 to 60% more transmissible than the original COVID-19 strain, which may indicate that more people will get sick after exposure.

-The Delta variant may replicate more quickly than previous strains, which means it can shift in an attempt to evade the immune system.

- Recent research indicates that the Delta variant could be more resistant to vaccines.  Although, Gilliam said the current vaccines on the market have been proven effective against the Delta variant. The health department “strongly encourage[s] county residents who are 12 or older, to get fully vaccinated against COVID-19.”

In April 2021, less than ten patients tested positive for COVID-19 at Ozarks Healthcare. In May, nearly 20 patients tested positive for COVID-19. As of June 25, nearly 60 patients had tested positive. Ozarks Healthcare does not test specifically for the Delta variant, however. 

“Within our own health system, we are seeing younger and unvaccinated patients come in with severe complications caused by COVID-19,” Dr. Kendell Clarkston, hospitalist at Ozarks Healthcare, said. “These numbers are not the same as our record numbers of hospitalizations, but we are trending upwards.”

On July 7, the hospital reported in a Facebook post that there are 14 COVID patients in the facility, the highest number since mid-January. 

Though the spiking numbers have earned the Ozarks “hotspot” designation, the difference between this spike and any the region has seen before is the year of experience during which our local medical professionals have been battling this illness. 

“When the pandemic started in 2020, we didn’t have anything to help besides masking and handwashing,” Keeling said. Now, a vaccine is readily available and free to anyone over the age of 12. 

In addition to medical advancements, we have local medical professionals, like the five recognized by Ozarks Healthcare, who are not only seasoned in battling this coronavirus but are personally and passionately committed to doing so.