CHARLESTON, W.Va. — CAMC President and CEO David Ramsey thanked employees and the community for their response in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic in a video message posted Tuesday.
“I want to thank everybody for everything you’re doing on a daily basis to take care of our patients, our community and each other,” Ramsey said. “Clearly it’s a scary time and I want to thank you for hanging in there.”
Ramsey said the community support for CAMC workers has been amazing. He said hundreds of fabric masks have been donated and food provided along with residents displaying blue lights outside their homes.
“It’s been really an outpouring of support for those who work in the medical field. We really are the safety net and you (employees) are the safety net for our community,” Ramsey said.
Dave Ramsey, CAMC President and CEO, thanked the CAMC workforce for taking care of patients while preparing for the coming surge of COVID-19 patients. https://t.co/SqBr9nzO7Y
— CAMC Health System (@CAMCHealth) April 7, 2020
Every patient coming into the ERs at CAMC’s four hospitals are now being given fabric masks. He said the hospital is doing fine with PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) but could use more.
“We still need to conserve PPE,” Ramsey said. “We’re finding that when we order equipment we’re told it’s going to some of the hot spots.”
He credited CAMC workers for their efforts when it comes to reusing supplies when possible.
“We still need to be in a mindset of conservation in that regard but we’ve been very successful in acquiring some supplies and you’ve done a great job in conserving supplies,” Ramsey said.
He said he’s not sure how the current situation will last at CAMC or any hospital. He said the model the state uses shows a peak of cases next week but a CAMC model shows it taking place a little later.
“The state has a model. We have a model at CAMC that we put all of the data and numbers into and the surge in West Virginia will probably be sometime in early May, really the month of May, and we don’t know for sure when that will be,” Ramsey said.
CAMC has placed signs in front of all of its hospitals that say ‘Heroes Work Here.’
“It couldn’t be truer. We have hundreds of heroes that work at CAMC on a daily basis and I just want to say thank you,” Ramsey said.
CAMC has recorded one coronavirus death. It has tested more than 2,500 residents. It had 10 patients hospitalized with coronavirus as of Tuesday evening.