How one NY hospital system treated 128,000+ COVID cases | Michael Dowling | Big Think

How one NY hospital system treated 128,000+ COVID cases
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Preparing for a pandemic like COVID-19 was virtually impossible. Northwell Health president and CEO Michael Dowling explains how, as the largest healthcare provider in New York, his team had to continuously organize, innovate, and readjust to dangerous and unpredictable conditions in a way that guaranteed safety for the staff and the best treatment for over 128,000 coronavirus patients.

From making their own supplies when they ran out, to coordinating with government at every level and making sense of new statistics and protocols, Northwell focused on strengthening internal and external communication to keep the ship from sinking.

"There was no such thing as putting up the white flag," Dowling says of meeting the pandemic head on and reassuring his front line staff that they would be safe and have all the resources they needed to beat the virus. "It's amazing how innovative you can be in a crisis."

Check Michael Dowling’s latest book « Leading Through a Pandemic: The Inside Story of Humanity, Innovation, and Lessons Learned During the COVID-19 Crisis » at http://amzn.to/3oXBArp
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MICHAEL DOWLING:

Michael J. Dowling is President and Chief Executive Officer of Northwell Health, New York’s largest health care provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals, more than 700 outpatient locations, $12 billion in annual revenue and 68,000+ employees. One of health care’s most-influential executives, Mr. Dowling has received numerous awards, including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, an honorary degree from the prestigious Queen’s University Belfast and his selection as the Grand Marshal of the 2017 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in NYC. He also serves as chair of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
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TRANSCRIPT:

MICHAEL DOWLING: When you're in healthcare, you deal with crisis all the time. It's the nature of our business. People come into the emergency department after accidents. People come in with severe heart issues. There is trauma. So, we deal with crises. What we went through, however, during the pandemic was at an extent that we had never, ever seen before. And here at Northwell, the new number now that I got recently is we saw almost 70,000 COVID patients. We saw 22% of all COVID in New York. And you may ask the question, "Why did we work through it?" Because of the way we organized ourselves, because of the staff that we have, and because of the competence and the dedication of those staff. Because of our culture in our organization. Our culture on emergency management.

What does that mean, when you have to deal with an issue like this? One is to have a real focus on how it is you keep all of your staff safe. Because remember, with any major crisis, if you're in the C suite, you are a little bit separate from the action. Where the action occurs is down on the ground, on the front lines, with your front line staff. Now, what do they want to know? What they want to know is a couple of things. One, they want to know if you have the resources to make sure that they're safe. They want to know that you care about them. They want to know that there is a sense of optimism in the organization. That yes, no matter how difficult it is, we can win this. That we are not retreating from this problem. That with us there was no such thing as retreat, there was no such thing as putting up the white flag. That however difficult this was going to be, we were going to win. You have a winning attitude.

You understand reality on the ground. But you know at the end of the day that whatever that enemy is going to throw at you, you're going to win. Staff is looking for that. And they want to see, obviously, the leadership on the front lines. Visibility is important. So this is why I walked the floors on a continuing basis, in many cases against medical advice. As you can probably tell, I'm in the high-risk group. I'm not 20, and I'm not 30. So people said to me, "No, no, you cannot go on the floor. That's too dangerous." My attitude was, well, I expect my teams to be on the floors, on the front lines, therefore I gotta go there. And walking around, talking to them, and understanding what was going through their minds, and making sure their psychological, behavioral, social, and spiritual issues were taken care of, was extremely important.

The other thing about emergency preparedness is the equipment you need to provide the staff. Like, in the case of COVID it was masks...

Read the full transcript at https://bigthink.com/Northwell-Health/emergency-management-coronavirus