TO: Ballad Health All FROM: Ballad Health Corporate Emergency Operations Center DATE: January 8, 2021 TITLE: COVID-19 vaccine second-dose information ACTION: Please read this memo and instruct team members with appropriate next steps. To view this message as a PDF, click here.   As many team members and community healthcare workers are soon approaching the need to receive their second dose – 21 days after first dose for Pfizer, 28 days after first dose for Moderna – please remember, you must return to the same POD where you received your first dose. Second doses are shipping to Ballad Health based on the number of first doses administered per site. For example, if you received your first dose at Johnson Memorial Hospital, you must return to Johnston Memorial for the second dose. Per CDC guidelines, persons should not receive the second dose earlier than recommended, however second doses administered within a grace period of 4 days…

TO: Ballad Health All FROM: Ballad Health Corporate Emergency Operations Center (CEOC) DATE: Dec. 30, 2020 (schedule updated Jan. 5, 2021) TITLE: Ballad Health COVID vaccine available to all team members, POD schedule for January 2021 ACTION: Please read this schedule and post in team member areas. Dates/times are subject to change. To view this message as a PDF, click here.   While highest priority for the COVID-19 vaccine was initially given to hospital-based frontline healthcare workers with direct patient exposure, it has been recognized that due to the importance of continuation of operations at hospitals and other care sites, and with the amount of repurposing of staff which has had to be done, all Ballad Health team members are eligible for the vaccine. This includes all medical staff members, team members, volunteers who are working in the hospitals (especially if they are over the age of 75), members of critical governance structures and our…

TO: Ballad Health All FROM: Ballad Health Corporate Emergency Operations Center DATE: Jan. 5, 2021 TITLE: COVID-19 community vaccination centers now open for select patient populations ACTION: Read, cascade and share with eligible team members and BHMA patients To read this message in PDF format, click here.   Following a weeks-long endeavor to provide as many team members, physicians, volunteers and contract employees – as well as many community healthcare providers – as possible with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine, Ballad Health is now poised to be one of the first health systems in the country to start offering the vaccine to eligible community members. Beginning this week, the Tennessee Department of Health has approved COVID-19 vaccine distribution to anyone older than 75. This effort is led by our regional health departments, and Ballad Health is assisting them by offering the vaccine to any patient who is older than age 75 and established with…

As we continue with vaccinations for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), our Ballad Health clinical leaders are sharing their thoughts about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, and why it is important to get vaccinated. Be on the lookout in Ballad Health News for more messages from our leaders across Ballad Health about the COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Lisle Whitman, orthopedic surgeon, Appalachian Orthopedics, talks about the importance of team members receiving the COVID-19 vaccination.  

NOTE: This message was sent by email to all Ballad Health team members on Dec. 30, 2020:   Dear Colleague: Even as we bear witness to a difficult surge in new COVID-19 cases and admissions, we have also been provided the promise of a light at the end of the tunnel – the arrival of the vaccines. Today, I want to share with you some good news – an important milestone we have reached. I’m happy to announce that Ballad Health has administered more than 10,000 vaccines to team members and community healthcare workers! This is an important step in protecting each other and our patients as we work to make sure our healthcare workforce can continue to meet the healthcare needs of our communities. Ballad Health has worked hard to make sure we are complying with the guidance from the CDC and health departments in the handling of the vaccines, and we remain committed…

Ballad Health is now offering the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine to all team members in all job roles. So far, we have vaccinated more than 8,000 team members, medical staff and volunteers with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Ballad Health is also offering the vaccine to community-based healthcare workers outside system, in coordination with local health departments. Receiving the vaccine is encouraged for all team members but is not mandatory. The vaccine is offered free of charge. Ballad Health has received enough doses of the vaccine to provide it for all team members – so you won’t be taking away a dose from a hospital-based or frontline healthcare worker. (Frontline team members have received the same offer over the past two weeks.) This includes all Ballad Health team members, medical staff members, administrators, volunteers, volunteer board members and employees of contracted groups, such as Ensemble or Morrison Healthcare. Your facility will have a POD (point of delivery)…

As we continue with vaccinations for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), our Ballad Health clinical leaders are sharing their thoughts about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, and why it is important to get vaccinated. Be on the lookout in Ballad Health News for more messages from our leaders across Ballad Health about the COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Chad Couch, chief medical officer, Northeast Market     Lisa Carter, VP, pediatric services, and CEO, Niswonger Children’s Hospital      Dr. Josh Hall, gastroenterologist, president of medical staff at Bristol Regional Medical Center  

Since coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine shipments began arriving last week to our hospitals, many frontline and clinical Ballad Health team members have been getting their vaccinations – more than 6,200 to date! We’ll continue to share information about additional vaccinations and when they will become available to other groups across the system, and we encourage all team members to receive their vaccination. Learn more at our COVID-19 vaccine information page on Ballad Health News: www.balladhealthnews.org/covid-19-vaccine-information-center Latest vaccine FAQ sheet (updated Dec. 23) Here’s what team members who chose to get the vaccine are saying:   James Kneff, Jr., MD, ER medical director, Bristol Regional Medical Center “I chose to get the vaccine because this is an unprecedented crisis we are facing, and I will do anything I can do to make myself, my family and community safer.”     Sherry Carrier, Bristol Regional Medical Center “I chose to get the vaccine because I thought…

The Bristol Herald Courier featured one of our Ballad Health chaplains, Michelle Lambert at Holston Valley Medical Center, in an article about the challenges, often under heartbreaking circumstances, that our chaplains face during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The article is headlined: Hospital chaplain describes heartbreaking work of caring for COVID-19 patients We are grateful to our chaplains for the amazing work they are doing under difficult conditions as they support our patients, their families and our team members!      

TO: Ballad Health All FROM: Ballad Health Corporate Emergency Operations Center DATE: December 17, 2020 TITLE: Daily COVID-19 Scorecard – 12.17.20 ACTION: Cascade to all team members   Click here to view the daily COVID-19 scorecard in PDF format.

Here’s a video message of support for our healthcare workers from Diana Harshbarger, Congresswoman-elect of Tennessee’s First District. (To watch on Ballad Health’s YouTube channel, click here.)   As the Congresswoman-elect of the First District here in Tennessee, I want to let you know that your efforts on the frontlines of healthcare are so very appreciated. I know it’s not easy, and you’ve seen a lot of suffering, and you’ve shouldered the burdens for so many families and patients, that a lot of people will never know some of the things that you have encountered and that you’ve suffered with. I want you to know that I do. I’m right there beside of you. I’ve been a healthcare provider for over 33 years, and taking care of these precious patients that I call friends and families here in East Tennessee has been phenomenal over these years. It’s not easy. If you didn’t know them when…