Page 18 - Healthcare News Sept.-Oct. 2020

HEALTHCARE HEROES OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
There was a learning curve — staff members were certainly not used to people in HMC’s beds making requests (better make that demands) for their favorite brand of beer — but they did learn, and they made the veterans/patients/residents feel at home at an extremely difficult time.
They decorated the hastily created living spaces with flags and red, white, and blue ornaments. They found the soldiers television sets. They provided much-needed information and comfort to those soldiers’ family members, many of whom had no idea where they were. They’ve helped a few of their guests celebrate 100th birthdays since their arrival. Outpatient physical therapists were taken off furlough to become veterans’ liaisons, helping the Soldiers’ Home residents with daily functions as well as helping them maintain connections with loved ones. Office assistants stepped in to assist with patient care.
Summing it all up, Hatiras said his staff came together, as perhaps never before, amid a crisis that tested the medical center on every level imaginvable — and earned the designation of Healthcare Hero for 2020 not only from HCN, but from the Huron Studer Group, one of only four such awards that organization issued across the entire U.S.
“Everyone put their roles aside and said, ‘all hands on deck,’” Hatiras noted, summoning
still more military language as he praised
every department in the hospital, from Plant Operations to Communications to Environmental Services, for the specific roles they played. “And
SPIROS HATIRAS
“Everyone put their roles as”ide and said, ‘all hands on deck.’
what we’ve learned, aside from all the bonding and being more comfortable in different roles,
is that we’ve technically become much more astute. We’ve learned things from a technical standpoint that would allow us to respond to a second wave or other kind of pandemic, because now we’ve got it right; we know how to convert rooms under pressure, we know how to isolate
people, we know how to shift things around, we know how to use alternative ways. We’ve learned so much by going through this.”
As several of those involved with this herculean effort talked with HCN about it, much of the discussion focused on that first day and night — and for a reason.
The hard work of setting up spaces for the soldiers — an outpatient cardiac-services unit and a maternity unit that has seen declining volume for several years — had been completed by mid-afternoon — as noted, without the help of the National Guard.
As he talked about the mad dash to get the rooms ready, Angelo Martinez, a member of the Plant Operations team, spoke for everyone in the room when he spoke of those who be staying in those rooms.
“At end of the day, I was tired, but it was a good feeling,” he said. “Because these veterans did a lot for us, and we owe them for all they’ve done.”
Those units were ready by 3 p.m., the end
of a shift for many of those involved. But just about everyone stayed until those soldiers finally started arriving by van in the early evening. And they stayed on until the last of them arrived around midnight. And still they stayed on until the soldiers were settled into their new quarters.
Kaitlyn Nadeau, a surgical technologist, was one of them. She told BusinessWest she was
HMC
Continued on page A8
Holyoke Community College congratulates the 2020
Healthcare Heroes
Proudly educating generations of heroes since 1946
hcc.edu/healthcare
CONGRATULATIONS HOLYOKE MEDICAL CENTER & SPIROS HATIRAS
community | innovation | compassion
Holyoke’s Healthcare Hero, thank you for your service and dedication during this challenging time.
Holyoke Gas & Electric | 99 Suffolk Street, Holyoke, MA 01040 | www.hged.com | (413) 536-9300
A6 OCTOBER 2020
2020 HEALTHCARE HEROES