An Open Letter to the Davidson County Community
For all of us, 2020 was life-defining. As we look back, many of us now view this time in terms of “life before” and “life after” the pandemic. Conversely, at Hospice of Davidson County, we chose to view our new world and the added challenges brought on by the pandemic as “life with.” There was never a question about the agency sustaining services for the community. It simply became a question of how we would do so without fail.
Immediately following the first Davidson County Health Department debrief, agency leadership formed an internal Corona-Virus Response Team. The GAP Team, so named for our commitment to sustain services with Gratitude, Appreciation, and a Positive attitude, immediately began developing strategies to protect our patients, families, and staff. The committee’s work continues as we monitor pandemic factors that have procedural impact.
Throughout 2020, our mission did not waiver from our commitment to care for our community’s most vulnerable, regardless of diagnosis, and provide additional programming supports for caregivers and staff who were experiencing traumatic and multiple losses. At the onset of the pandemic, Hospice of Davidson County was just one of three providers in the state of North Carolina accepting known COVID-9 patients.
In other quality measures, and for the sixth year in a row, our agency was recognized on a national level by HEALTHCAREfirst Inc., which is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services quality rating contractor. As a
Hospice Honors recipient, we were given high performance standards on 24 quality measures. We also continue to maintain quality programming status with the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) and the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC.)
In other successes, it was fortuitous that in late fall 2019, HODC implemented a telehealth platform, TapCloud.
At the onset of the pandemic, patients and families in all care programs had access to remote visitation in addition to in-person visits. Due to pre-pandemic training, staff was ready to facilitate visits which became even more meaningful due to growing social isolation. In operations, communications transitioned to Microsoft Teams to support remote work and back-office functions, moved to cloud-based platforms.
Despite pandemic factors impacting family and community resources, staff turnover remained below 10% for the year. At this writing, none of our staff contracted the virus from direct patient care or from each other.
As the challenges of 2020 continue into the current year, we face them with optimism and hope. Our shared experience has taught us that collectively, our teams have the resiliency needed to continue our work and, with your support, we have the resources to provide exceptional care for our community.
Stay well in mind, body, and spirit!
Laura Owen
Chief Executive Officer
