05/07/2020

A Message from Greg Walker: Extraordinary Times. Exceptional Care.

Spring of 2020 has not been easy for any of us. Here at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, we turned our world upside down and inside out to care for the most vulnerable in our community as the COVID-19 crisis became more prevalent.

Thank you for supporting our need to postpone your surgery, test or appointment so we could prepare our facility and our teams for the COVID-19 unknown that we were facing. Thank you for trusting Wentworth-Douglass to provide continued care for those whose care could not wait during this crisis. Thank you for providing countless donations and gifts for our care team as we dealt with the most anxious time in our history. 

Over the last several weeks, we were prepared to care for a large influx of COVID-19 patients. However, we did not see the level of COVID-19 care needs that other areas of the country experienced. In fact, since the crisis started, only 20 confirmed COVID-19 patients have needed hospitalization at Wentworth-Douglass. We performed over 2,300 COVID-19 tests, and only had 139 (or just over 6%) testing positive. All indicators are forecasting minimal COVID-19 cases for our community in the near future. We will continue to watch this, but we are now readying several service lines for re-opening using a gradual approach. Please know, we have processes in place to quickly pivot should a COVID-19 microburst or surge present in our community and our team is ready to respond.

While we did not experience a complete shut-down of services during the crisis and we remained available for urgent patient needs, we did pause a fair amount of services. We are working hard to put new processes and plans in place so we can fully open these services again. This week, we started a phased-in approach to providing time-sensitive care needs in surgical services, imaging and cardiology before planning to ramp up in other areas of the organization over the coming weeks. 

At Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, a new healthcare experience awaits, centered on your safety and superb clinical care. 

For those who are familiar our with organization, it may feel a little different as you now enter the hospital. We are supporting social distancing needs and requiring protective measures for all who enter, including providing masks, supporting visitor restrictions and spacing out waiting areas and common areas. This is done to support the health and wellness of all. 

To stay up-to-date on service openings, or to learn more about what we are doing to provide a safe environment, please visit our Service Updates page. Thank you for putting your trust in us and making Wentworth-Douglass Hospital your choice for health care needs.

Sincerely,

Gregory Walker, FACHE
President & CEO, Wentworth-Douglass Hospital