A year into COVID-19, what an amazing list of accomplishments

The novel coronavirus has touched every aspect of life at Asante beginning on March 4 when our first COVID-19 Incident Command meeting was held virtually. This was the start of the “new normal” for us.

As Asante and hospitals across the country tried to manage a surge in COVID-19 patients while also facing a global shortage of the protective gear needed to treat them, our community answered the call for donated masks, gloves, respirators, gowns and more.

New policies were put in place; visitors were restricted; screeners greeted employees and patients instead of volunteers; and nearly 1,200 employees started working from home with the belief that it was temporary — maybe a month or two at most.

Now, a year later, the milestones are many:

• Asante set up the first mobile collection site in the state within nine days.
• A COVID-19 hotline was established in 15 days.
• Coronavirus testing was brought in-house in 22 days.
• Mass vaccination events were held within weeks of the vaccine becoming available.
• Monoclonal antibody treatment was offered at Asante Ashland — one of only five locations in the state.
• A community COVID vaccination clinic opened nearly one year to the day of Asante’s official recognition of the pandemic.

Addressing the COVID-related needs of our patients, employees and community has been a lot like building a bridge while running a marathon across it. Our collective goal is to cross a finish line that’s a constantly moving target.

Everything we’ve accomplished together at Asante at an often-non-stop pace is nothing short of amazing. Our collaboration, ingenuity, creativeness and thinking-outside-the-box mentality has inspired greatness among our teams and employees.

Looking back on the past 12 months, it’s understandable to think that nothing could have prepared us for the realities of the pandemic. However, our resilience, perseverance and genuine love, respect and compassion for each other and our community has prevailed.

As they say, hindsight is 20-20. So, as we move forward through the next weeks, months and years, we’ll take what we’ve learned, improve upon it and be a stronger organization for having journeyed through the depths of a pandemic.