MCH News Archives

Those who meet the criteria for Phase 1B of the COVID-19 vaccine can begin scheduling appointments on Friday, New Hampshire officials announced last week. As the vaccine rollout enters its next stage, Monadnock Community Hospital is gearing up to provide the most up to date information to the community and preparing for, if and when, they will be part of the vaccination process for area residents. “The COVID vaccination process is an enormous undertaking. Here at MCH and across New Hampshire, hospitals are coordinating with State officials to create and staff additional local vaccination clinics that are needed to get the vaccine accessible to patients as quickly as possible, while still caring for our patients with complex needs” said MCH President and CEO Cyndee McGuire. “We ask people to be patient and check out the resources on our website to stay informed, and please sign up to receive a vaccination as soon as they qualify."

New Hampshire residents who qualify under the Phase 1B criteria can start registering at 8 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 22 to receive their vaccine at one of the state clinics. According to a press release from Gov. Chris Sununu’s office on Tuesday, an estimated 300,000 individuals are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccination within Phase 1B of the state’s distribution plan with clinics set to begin on Jan. 26. According to the release, Phase 1B includes people 65 years and older; residents who are medically vulnerable at significant risk – including family caregivers for those under 16; residents with developmental disabilities that receive services in a congregate residential setting, as well as staff in those settings; corrections officers and staff; and populations that experience health disparities. Residents can learn more about these qualifying conditions by calling the state’s hotline at 2-1-1 or by checking out the Vaccine Phase Check at www.vaccines.nh.gov, where registration will take place, if they qualify. Those who qualify and register on the state site will receive an email from the CDC inviting them to register for a vaccine. Mike Flynn, director of Pharmacy and Oncology at MCH, said it may take several days to receive the email from the CDC, but once it’s received, residents can register for a vaccine appointment at a clinic in New Hampshire. Appointments will be offered at the fixed sites located around the state, Flynn said, with the closest fixed site clinics set up in Keene, Concord and Nashua. Appointments will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to vaccine availability. “Hospitals are working with DHHS to create additional access in our area by offering public clinics for vaccination in addition to the fixed sites,” Flynn said. “Not all of these clinics will be in the registration system on Friday. They will be visible as a choice as the clinics are set up.” Flynn encouraged residents to sign up for the earliest appointment they can conveniently get to. “The focus of the effort is creating efficient access and getting the vaccines administered to our population as quickly as possible. People who do not have access to email and the internet can call the state hotline at 2-1-1,” Flynn said. Flynn said MCH is working with the state, the New Hampshire Hospital Association and other hospitals to create as much access as possible. “We are striving to collaborate with our partners in the community as we develop our vaccine clinics at MCH,” he said. “We are developing our clinic plan and the state is doing the same,” adding that he is in daily contact with the state regarding vaccine allocations and the latest guidance. As of Tuesday, Flynn said the plan is to have all MCH employees who have opted to get the vaccine to have the opportunity for the first dose by the end of next week. “About 90% of our employees have opted to get the vaccine. To date, we have had five employee vaccine clinics. The sixth clinic will be Friday, Jan. 22. We anticipate that second doses for employees should be complete by the end of February,” he said. According to data released by the NH Department of Health and Human Services outlining vaccinations in NH hospitals, MCH had administered 80 percent of the 425 doses they had received from the state as of Jan. 14. Flynn said the remaining doses the hospital had on hand were for their vaccination clinic scheduled for Friday, adding that after Friday’s clinic all the vaccines the hospital has received should be administered. “This number fluctuates based on when we receive our allocation from the state and when the clinics are scheduled,” Flynn said. So far, Flynn said, MCH has received a weekly allocation of vaccines from the state. The State of New Hampshire vaccine distribution plan includes three phases, based on individuals’ risk. Up to this point, Phase 1A designated individuals – health care workers, first responders and adults in residential care settings – are among the first group to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Flynn said the biggest variable is the limitation of doses nationwide, as the state receives vaccines from the Federal government, which is then allocated to clinics by state. According to Tuesday’s release by Sununu’s office, “for those unable to schedule an appointment online, the 211 Hotline remains available. An extremely high call volume is anticipated. Wait times may be long, but every call will be answered by a live person,” the release stated. “Limited supply of vaccines from the federal government means appointments may be booked weeks out. Everyone in Phase 1B who wants an appointment will get an appointment. If allocation should increase, appointments will be rescheduled to earlier dates and times.” Personnel resources may also be a limitation, Flynn said, and the Greater Monadnock Public Health Network is coordinating all vaccine clinic volunteers for the Monadnock Region. People can sign up at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WVN5LTZ. In an effort to provide the most up to date information, MCH created a COVID-19 vaccine page on its website, www.MCHvaccine.org, which anyone can sign up to receive weekly emails from MCH with the latest news, even if you are not a patient of MCH.

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By TIM GOODWIN

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

Published: 12/9/2020 2:36:07 PM

Monadnock Community Hospital officials said the Phase I distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine will likely reach the facility within the next couple of weeks. MCH President and CEO Cyndee McGuire said the first phase of the vaccine rollout is earmarked for high-risk frontline healthcare workers providing direct patient care, first responders, and adults living in long term care facilities. In conjunction with the State of NH and the CDC, McGuire said the hospital administration was asked to identify staff members who meet the requirements for the initial distribution of the vaccine. McGuire said that approximately 230 employees of the Peterborough-based hospital, including those in the Emergency Department, inpatient Medical Unit, Birthing Suite, Oncology, physician practices, lab, and radiology – anyone who are giving direct clinical care. “My understanding is that the vaccine will be at no cost to the hospital or to the patient,” McGuire said. “That streamlines things a lot more.”

MCH has approximately the equivalent of 500 full-time employees, and eventually the plan will be to offer the remaining number of employees the opportunity to be vaccinated as more of it becomes available. McGuire said it’s not a guarantee that all 230 employees will get the vaccine in the first distribution. She said her understanding is the state will receive a certain number of doses of the vaccine and then distribute to facilities based on a formula. “It’s likely we won’t get all those employees vaccinated in the first round,” McGuire said. While the vaccine will not be mandatory for hospital employees, Laura Gingras, Vice President of Philanthropy and Community Relations, said they recently held a virtual employee education forum to provide the information the hospital currently had available on the vaccine and to answer questions. “This is what we have in front of us and we are anticipating moving forward,” McGuire said. “We need to get a handle on this.” The vaccine will be administered by hospital staff, just like any other vaccine Chief Medical Officer Michael Lindberg said, and won’t require any special equipment, training or deep freeze storage units to meet the storage temperature for the vaccine of -80 degrees Celsius. “When we get it, we have five days to use it before it expires,” Lindberg said. Once a vial, containing five doses each, is opened, Lindberg said they have six hours to administer it. “We definitely do not want to waste doses,” he said. From what Lindberg understands, he believes MCH will receive the Pfizer vaccine “but we don’t know that definitively yet,” he said. The vaccine will come packed in dry ice as “most hospitals do not have refrigeration that will hold something that cold,” Lindberg said. Lindberg said that the vaccine requires two doses to get an immune response and they must be administered 21 days apart. An internal vaccine preparation team has been working on a plan for MCH for the past two months, McGuire said. “We will make sure the people who get the first dose are scheduled 21 days later,” Lindberg said. In the case they have more doses than what is needed for Phase I, he said they will find someone in the next tier to receive it. The vaccine is the first step in protecting employees of the hospital, but personal protective equipment protocols will not change, McGuire said. Lindberg cited that the vaccine trials have produced a 94 percent efficacy rate, but there are still unknowns around it, like if a vaccinated person can still carry the virus. “We want to make sure every safety measure remains in place for our staff and patients,” McGuire said. McGuire said the imminent distribution of the vaccine provides a sense of relief and it “will help shore up the healthcare services,” she said, but they are still bracing themselves as the number of positive coronavirus tests climb in the state with the potential for more with holiday gatherings coming up. To that end, the hospital continues to push the message of wearing masks, washing hands, maintaining a safe six foot distance and avoid gatherings. “We still have a lot of social responsibility,” Lindberg said. McGuire said she has not been made aware of when the second round of distribution will be made available for more employees. She said to her knowledge, administering the vaccine to first responders and nursing home staff and residents will not be done at the hospital. While there is no indication when the vaccine will become available to the general public, Lindberg said the conversation has been focused on the spring of 2021. It all depends on how fast the current vaccines and newer ones set to be available can be produced, he said. In the meantime, they have been discussing what the process would look like for administering it on a wider scale, Lindberg said. “This is a phased process and the timeline is a bit of a moving target,” McGuire said. “It depends on how quickly pharmaceutical firms can produce it and safely distribute it,” Lindberg said. McGuire said while it has been a long nine months, the employees of MCH continue to be a guiding light. “These folks have been working a tremendous amount of hours, lots of extra time has been involved and they’re staying the course to get us through this next wave,” she said. As numbers in the state and Hillsborough County grow, with 807 positive tests announced on Tuesday, just one day after NH reported more than 1,000 new cases for the first time since the pandemic began, Gingras said hospital officials meet daily, sometimes twice a day, to discuss the current state of COVID-19. Hospitals around the state are feeling the effects of COVID-19 admissions, McGuire said, but “so far we haven’t seen any type of inpatient surge,” she said. She added the partnership with Catholic Medical Center to take inpatient COVID-19 patients from MCH remains in place as of now.

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Monadnock Community Hospital began to re-introduce elective appointments and procedures in May and we have seen a steady increase in our patient volumes. This is great news for the health and well-being of our patients as well as for the financial viability of our Hospital. All of our service lines are open and we are happy to be able to provide care that was postponed in March and April. The team at MCH has worked very hard to redesign many of our patient protocols to keep the community and our employees safe as the pandemic continues. For example, we are now scheduling many appointments that had previously been walk-ins, such as laboratory and radiology, to comply with social distancing and spacing of patient visits. We are also learning more every day as to how to employ tele-health visits prior to, and sometimes in place of, face-to-face visits with your physician. Our patients are providing feedback that many of the changes are more convenient and that they feel safe when they come to MCH. The protocols are necessary but in some cases mean that we cannot see the same level of appointments as we did pre-Covid.

We are seeing approximately 80% of pre-Covid patient volumes and this has greatly impacted our finances. Originally, we projected that we would lose $20 million for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020. We are very pleased to report that our actual loss this year will be in the neighborhood of $7 million. We anticipate our monthly losses to continue next year when we project a loss of $6 million. Our ability to fully restore patient volumes depends on having a vaccine available or another way of assuring that the protocols in place are no longer needed. We are so grateful to our community for their generous support and contributions during this difficult time. We have received so many gifts from past contributors and people who are donating for the first time. Every gift is helping us to keep our hospital strong.

As a not-for-profit hospital, our focus is meeting the needs of our community. We have expanded our surgery program and look forward to giving more patients the option to have their care right here close to home. We recognize that the uncertain times may cause concern about the future of the hospital, and we want to assure you that our strategy is to maintain all of the services we currently offer. Our pending combination with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health is still working its way through the regulatory process and we hope the process will be finalized sometime in the next 12 months. This new relationship, building on our work with Catholic Medical Center, will allow our patients to have access to more specialty services.

The Bond Wellness Center at MCH has been closed to fitness members since March. We held a series of small focus groups on September 10^th to hear from our members as we evaluate options to get our fitness members back to exercising. The Bond Wellness Center remains an important part of the MCH mission to improve the health and well being of our community and we are concerned about the health and wellness of our 1,600 fitness members.

And although our community has yet to see a spike in the number of Covid-19 positive cases, we will remain vigilant and prepared to care for our patients even if our cases increase. We are following NH Department of Public Health guidelines for testing our patients and have an adequate number of tests to accomplish this. As a small hospital, we still do not have the ability to do general widespread testing. Patients can find information about where they can be tested on our website: www.MonadnockHospital.org Please know that, to assure your and our safety, we maintain a universal face covering policy for all hospital staff, visitors, patients, and others while on campus.

We continue to be grateful for the partnerships in our region. Our towns, businesses, individuals, and long-term care organizations have done a great job helping us to keep the virus under control. As we approach fall and the traditional flu season, we are encouraging everyone to get their flu shot as soon as possible. Flu shots are available at our primary care offices and we will be announcing some flu clinics shortly.

Thank you for helping us to keep our community safe and keep Monadnock Community Hospital strong as we approach the centennial of our founding in 1923. Parmelee Drive is a tribute to Alice and Robert Parmelee who gave their home and estate to become our community’s first hospital. Thanks to years of community leadership and support, we are fulfilling the Parmelee’s desire to have a local hospital to serve our region.

[post_title] => News from Monadnock Community Hospital September 2020 Update [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => news-from-monadnock-community-hospital [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-09-10 15:53:20 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-09-10 19:53:20 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://monadnockcommunityhospital.com/?p=31355 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [9] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 30307 [post_author] => 14 [post_date] => 2020-06-01 10:10:51 [post_date_gmt] => 2020-06-01 14:10:51 [post_content] => Thanks to the work of hundreds of community sewers, Monadnock Community Hospital is well stocked with masks and mask covers! MCH has received over 6,500 masks and we have been able to share some of those with our partner healthcare providers in the community, such as Crotched Mountain, RiverMead, Scott-Farrar and Home Healthcare, Hospice and Community Resources. The response we received from our call for help has impressed people from all over the country! The Monadnock Region is so very special, and our employees are grateful for each and every mask that was made with loving hands. As the pandemic continues, MCH will reach out if the need for more fabric masks arises in the future. At this time, MCH feels the community’s efforts could be directed to other needs within the business community and individuals who need masks. If you are interested in participating in an effort to help others, please go to the Facebook group “Monadnock Community Mask Makers” for more information. If you have questions about the community mask effort and how you can participate, please contact Heather Stockwell 762-5718 or heather@radnh.org or Kate Coon kate2coon@gmail.com [post_title] => MCH Fabric Mask Donations Paused [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => mch-fabric-mask-donations-paused [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2020-06-01 10:10:51 [post_modified_gmt] => 2020-06-01 14:10:51 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://monadnockcommunityhospital.com/?p=30307 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [10] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 30052 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2020-05-07 06:23:23 [post_date_gmt] => 2020-05-07 10:23:23 [post_content] =>

MCH and hospitals across the country postponed many elective and non-critical medical appointments beginning in March 16^th in the effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and prepare our hospitals for a predicted surge of COVID-19 patients. Thanks to significant steps the state has taken and our community’s compliance with the precautions, New Hampshire has not yet experienced that surge that would stress and potentially overwhelm hospital capacity.

Each hospital is now in the process of reintegrating certain services to care for the ongoing medical needs of our patients. Decisions about how and when to bring back services will be up to each individual hospital and will look different depending on the capacity of the hospital to ensure the safety of all patients and staff. While we have to remain vigilant, it is time to plan for responsibly resuming health care services and work our way back to a more normal health care environment.

Our focus is to ensure that all patients coming back for medical care will be seen in a safe and secure environment. Patients can enter MCH knowing no one takes the delivery of health care more seriously than our doctors, nurses and staff who are courageously leading our institution through this crisis. “Preventing the spread of COVID-19 and caring for those in our community who may be impacted by COVID-19 remains our top priority. We remain committed to protecting our patients and staff through ongoing vigilance as we navigate through what may be our new normal in health care delivery,” said Cyndee McGuire, President and CEO.

Following the guidance released by the state on May 1st, MCH will phase-in procedures and appointments based on our assurance and ability to deliver safe and effective health care in accordance with:

Established guidelines ensuring safe segregation and treatment of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients.
Sufficient availability of personal protective equipment to ensure the safety of both patients and staff.
Adequate testing supplies and equipment.
Alignment with established guidelines developed by the Centers for Disease Control and other regulatory agencies.
Flexible policies permitting immediate response to any COVID-19 surge.

“Our reintegration of service will be a slow, thoughtful, and phased process. We need to consider our aging population and the specific needs of our community. We urge patients not to delay care, and to call their physician’s office if they have any concerns. Our Tele-health Service has been significantly expanded to allow providers to consult with patients in a virtual setting which has been well received. Monadnock Community Hospital is eager to begin our return to normal operations, but only when it is appropriate to do so, and in coordination with local, state, and system partners,” said Cyndee McGuire.

While the crisis is far from over, we know that COVID-19 will continue to be the primary focus of hospitals and health care providers for the foreseeable future, however we are mindful of the many New Hampshire residents who have deferred care for chronic conditions and other non-urgent medical needs. MCH will continue to partner with public health and others to monitor the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic so that we can be prepared for periodic or unpredictable increases in the number of cases that may occur in our region and make the adjustments necessary to ensure the safety of our patients and healthcare workers.

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The Monadnock Region has not yet seen the surge of COVID-19 patients as originally projected by the CDC (Center for Disease Control). This is good news for all of us. Our community’s commitment to stopping the spread of the virus has saved lives and has prevented a situation that could have potentially overwhelmed Monadnock Community Hospital. We have had many weeks to prepare and make adjustments to our normal operations. Some of the adjustments include: setting up new protocols for caring for COVID-19 patients, finding new sources of supplies and personal protective equipment for our medical staff and employees, expanding our bed capacity from 25 to 40, and implementing tele-health for continued routine care for our many outpatients and patients who traditionally visit our physician offices. MCH feels well prepared for what we now know may be a long haul of dealing with this deadly virus. Until we have a vaccine or wide spread systematic testing of the population, many of our precautions will have to remain in place. We are following NH Department of Public Health guidelines for testing and have an adequate number of tests to accomplish this. At this time, we do not have the ability to do widespread testing. Such a system will come at the guidance of the CDC and the NH Department of Health and Human Services.

We are closely following prediction models used around the country to plan for both the short term and the long term. We, like many hospitals are beginning to plan to re-introduce elective appointments and procedures in a safe manner, while still protecting the health our community. The routine delivery of healthcare will continue, often using technology in new ways to limit exposure of our patients and healthcare workers. All agree that this restoration of services must be done slowly and carefully. The process will be less like turning on a light switch and more like a sunrise.

This pandemic has put enormous strain on almost every industry in the world. The hospital’s normal revenue stream has dropped significantly which is creating challenges. The hospital has been actively applying for all available funding including loans and grants. To date, MCH has been successful in obtaining advanced payments from Medicare to help with cash flow and has applied for Payroll Tax Deferment. The hospital has also received some payment from the Federal CARES Act funds and is applying for FEMA reimbursement. MCH remains focused on long term sustainability.

We cannot overstate our gratitude for the support we have received on many fronts. Local manufacturers and individuals have donated significant amounts of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and our congressional representatives and senators have advocated in support of our hospital obtaining much needed supplies. This support means so much for the safety of our front line caregivers and for that we are grateful. Community members have reached out with gifts of food and personal items for our staff. Many contributors have donated to our COVID-19 Fund. Thanks to a very high level of community support on every level, we are well-prepared to care for our patients. We will get through this together!

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