Where we are: the COVID surge that never came

Things are definitely calming down a bit as the COVID-19 patient surge that the City and Saint Francis anticipated has yet to come (and hopefully won’t). Dr. Klein, seen above during a virtual town hall, recently updated donors on the Hospital’s current state and recovery plans moving forward. Read more here.

Dr. Jordan, pictured below, also talked with donors last week about some promising COVID-19 treatments including convalescent plasma. Sounds fascinating, doesn’t it? Our Chief Medical Officer is one of a kind as you might have seen in her recent CNN interview on the future of telemedicine.

I am pleased to share that, with the support of many donors like you, we have provided 250 small grants to Saint Francis staff during this challenging time that upended everyone’s lives so abruptly. We are still actively fundraising for this grant program as staff continue to need our support for child care, elder care, and even basic expenses like food, utilities and rent.

Fortunately now that hospitals are beginning to resume many “non-essential” procedures and surgeries that were put on hold due to the pandemic, scheduling and revenue should begin to return to normal. But, that does not ease the burden of weeks or months of lost income for staff and the Hospital. Therefore, we would greatly appreciate your generous support of our Hospital Staff Emergency Relief Fund and broader Community Crisis Response Fund so we can continue to support our staff and our community hospital as they have supported us over the decades. Thank you.

In the midst of what seems to be constant glum news, I am excited to share our new webpage, Health Care Heroes, which profiles our courageous and hardworking staff during this pandemic.

Please visit this new page to see profiles of Dennis and Karl, pictured at left, two compassionate and talented nurses at Saint Francis. And please check back as we will continue to add more profiles over the weeks and months.

I hope you are well, and I thank you for your consistent and generous support of Saint Francis through all of this uncertainty.

Mark Ryle
President