TO: Ballad Health Leaders (Managers, Directors, AVP, VP, SVP, EVP)
FROM: Ballad Health Corporate Emergency Operations Center
DATE: May 13, 2020
TITLE: Weekly COVID-19 briefing – May 13, 2020
ACTION: Please post and cascade to all team members. This is a review of the major activities that occurred this week related to the COVID-19 response.
COVID-19 antibody testing is available for Ballad Health team members
Beginning Monday, May 18, Ballad Health will begin offering free coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) antibody testing to all team members and physicians with active staff privileges.
This test does not tell you if you currently have COVID-19, but it might show if you had a previous COVID-19 infection. Gathering this information is crucial to our understanding of COVID-19, especially since current estimates suggest 25-45% of cases have mild or no symptoms.
With widespread antibody testing, we’ll have a better gauge of how many people have been infected and how far the pandemic has spread, which will help us fight its continued spread.
To receive free antibody testing, please visit any of the below testing locations, during its specified hours, from May 18-May 29. Antibody testing consists of a full blood draw, conducted by Synergy Laboratories. Team members will be notified of their test results via email.
COVID-19 antibody testing locations
- Bristol Regional Medical Center: 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
- Dickenson Community Hospital: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (Monday-Thursday)
- East Tennessee Ambulatory Surgery Center: 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
- Franklin Woods Community Hospital: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
- Greeneville Community Hospital East: 7 a.m.-2 p.m.
- Hancock County Hospital: 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
- Hawkins County Memorial Hospital: 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
- Holston Valley Medical Center: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
- Indian Path Community Hospital: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
- Johnson City Medical Center: 7 a.m.-5 p.m.
- Johnson County Community Hospital: 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
- Johnston Memorial Hospital: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
- Lonesome Pine Hospital: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
- Norton Community Hospital: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
- Russell County Hospital: 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
- Smyth County Community Hospital: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
- Sycamore Shoals Hospital Medical Office Building: 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
- Unicoi County Hospital: 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Marsh Regional issues urgent call for donations
Marsh Regional Blood Center is experiencing an urgent need for blood donations, and we encourage all eligible donors to come out and give.
COVID-19 does not pose any known risk to blood donors during the donation process or by attending blood drives. Marsh Regional always takes steps to prevent team members and donors who are not feeling well or who have a fever from reaching the donor area, and they are now taking additional social distancing precautions wherever possible. Plus, Marsh Regional continues to take appropriate measures to reduce donors’ potential exposure to COVID-19, as well as extra disinfection and sanitization efforts.
To make an appointment, please call 423-408-7500. If you’re healthy, feel well and have not been exposed to COVID-19, we encourage you to come out and give.
Mission Moment: When COVID-19 hits close to home, we rise to the challenge
With hundreds of COVID-19 cases in the Appalachian Highlands, the disease has inevitably reached several Ballad Health team members, and some of them have needed care in the very hospitals where they work and serve patients every day.
With the roles reversed for these team members-turned-patients, Ballad Health’s physicians and care teams have fought to save members of their work families. And when they’ve finally recovered enough to go home, their colleagues have lined the walls with cheers, applause and tears of happiness – watch the links below or view externally on the Ballad Health YouTube page, and share in the joy:
Times like these remind us to be even more thankful to the nurses and healthcare teams who work so hard to save lives every day. We are forever grateful for all the prayers, care and support that led to our team members’ recoveries.
Do you have a story or team member you’d like to recognize? Let us know by sending an email to BalladHealthCorporateEOC@balladhealth.org.
Additional points to note
- All COVID-19 preventive measures – including visitation restrictions, work-from-home directives, wearing masks and daily team member screenings – remain in place until further notice.
- Ballad Health’s IS team, working with Dr. Ken Wright, has rebuilt our existing COVID-19 PCR order entry module to accommodate COVID-19 testing requirements for patients transferring from our acute care settings to long-term care, inpatient rehabilitation or skilled nursing care. Members of the care team will be empowered to help identify individuals who might require post-acute services, and they will prompt the treating physician to enter a screening COVID-19 PCR test (send out) 48-72 hours prior to the planned discharge date. The intent is for the result to be available in time for the discharge or transition orders and the patient’s subsequent transfer to the post-acute facility.
- Any healthcare worker who reports experiencing symptoms for COVID-19 will be excused from work for testing. Workers who are negative for COVID-19 on the first test will be required to follow the CDC test-based strategy, which requires two negative tests 24 hours apart. One negative test will no longer be acceptable.
- Ballad Health has updated its travel restrictions for team members and Ballad Health Medical Associates-employed physicians. Personal travel/paid time off (PTO) is permitted; however, all travel requests must be approved by team members’ direct supervisors. This adjustment in policy does not apply to previously-communicated PTO blackout periods for June and October, related to our Epic go-lives. Additionally, no business travel will be approved for the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends on June 30.
- Community members who would like to be tested for COVID-19 should call our Nurse Connect hotline at 833-822-5523.
- COVID-19 updates, testing information and news continues to be posted to www.balladhealth.org/COVID19.
Total positive COVID-19 case count by county:
Tennessee – 16,370 total (13,938 on May 6, the date of the last Weekly Briefing)
| County | Total | Recovered | New cases since May 6 |
| Carter | 18 | 14 | 2 |
| Cocke | 19 | 16 | 4 |
| Greene | 47 | 41 | 4 |
| Hamblen | 25 | 17 | 6 |
| Hawkins | 31 | 28 | – |
| Johnson | 15 | 3 | 8 |
| Sullivan | 54 | 50 | 2 |
| Unicoi | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Washington | 64 | 60 | 5 |
| Totals | 276 | 230 | 32 |
Virginia – 26,746 total (20,256 on May 6, the date of the last Weekly Briefing)
| County | Total | New cases since May 6 |
| Buchanan | 16 | – |
| City of Bristol | 3 | 1 |
| Grayson | 18 | 13 |
| Lee | 10 | – |
| City of Norton | 2 | – |
| Russell | 6 | 1 |
| Scott | 7 | – |
| Smyth | 15 | 2 |
| Tazewell | 6 | – |
| Washington | 49 | 9 |
| Wise | 23 | 1 |
| Wythe | 15 | 3 |
| Totals | 170 | 30 |
COVID-19 case counts are provided by the states’ health departments. Data on recovered COVID-19 patients is not available for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
