NGHS frontline staff receives COVID-19 vaccine

News, Press Release

PRESS RELEASE

GAINESVILLE, Ga. – Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) is now offering nearly 5,000 Doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to frontline staff and physicians.

“It feels like Christmas came early,” says Carol Burrell, NGHS president and CEO. “It’s been a long eight months for our organization and our community, as we continue to see record numbers of COVID patients. We still have a long journey ahead of us, but simply having a vaccine in our hands is a tremendous and positive step forward.”

The first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine arrived at Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) Gainesville Thursday morning, where it is being stored in specially ordered freezers to maintain the proper storage temperature. Doses are being offered to employees in a prioritized order based on risk, with more vaccinations continuing at NGMC Gainesville and NGMC Braselton. Future vaccine shipments are expected to begin on a regular basis soon, though no official timeline or cadence has been set.

“We hope other COVID-19 vaccines developed by different companies and research groups will receive federal approval soon, which would allow us to vaccinate our workforce and people in our community, faster than planned,” says Supriya Mannepalli, MD, NGMC’s medical director of Infectious Disease Medicine. “I’m amazed at how quickly our team has worked through detailed logistics to make this possible – just like they have with so many other challenges during the pandemic.”

The first employees vaccinated Thursday night include:

  • Rachel Brunner, RN – Critical Care Nurse at NGMC Gainesville and Braselton
  • Andy Cason, RRT – Respiratory Therapist at NGMC Gainesville
  • Tamika Johnson, RN – Charge Nurse in the Mobile Medical Unit at NGMC Gainesville

Elizabeth Larkins, MSN, RN – Director of Critical Care at NGMC NGMC’s medical director of Infectious Disease Medicine. “I’m amazed at how quickly our team has worked through detailed logistics to make this possible – just like they have with so many other challenges during the pandemic.”

The first employees vaccinated Thursday night include:

  • Rachel Brunner, RN – Critical Care Nurse at NGMC Gainesville and Braselton
  • Andy Cason, RRT – Respiratory Therapist at NGMC Gainesville
  • Tamika Johnson, RN – Charge Nurse in the Mobile Medical Unit at NGMC Gainesville
  • Elizabeth Larkins, MSN, RN – Director of Critical Care at NGMC Gainesville
  • April McDonald, MD – Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine Physician with Northeast Georgia Physicians Group, practicing at NGMC Gainesville and Braselton
  • Terry Phillips – Environmental Services Technician at NGMC Gainesville
  • Seth Scott, RN – Nurse in the Emergency Department at NGMC Gainesville

Important information about COVID-19 vaccines, including details about when they may be available to the general public, answers to frequently asked questions and more, is available at nghs.com/covid-vaccine.

 

“It’s important to remember that vaccination isn’t a magic bullet that will end the pandemic immediately,” says Dr. Mannepalli. “People need to continue following the 3Ws – wear a mask, wash your hands, watch your distance – even after getting the vaccine, at least until herd immunity is achieved.”

ABOUT NORTHEAST GEORGIA HEALTH SYSTEM

Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) is a non-profit on a mission of improving the health of our community in all we do. Our team cares for more than 1 million people across the region through four hospitals and a variety of outpatient locations. Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) has campuses in Gainesville, Braselton, Winder and Dahlonega – with a total of more than 700 beds and more than 1,100 medical staff members representing more than 50 specialties. Learn more at www.nghs.com.

 

NGHS shares more COVID-19 data

News

 

 

PRESS RELEASE

GAINESVILLE, Ga. – Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) is releasing more data about COVID-19 to increase awareness of how the virus is spreading, who is being infected and how it’s impacting the availability of the system’s hospital beds. The data will be updated before 3 p.m. each day.

“As we participate in conference calls and discussions with organizations, government agencies, elected officials, patients and visitors – we always hear common questions about the positive rate of the tests our teams are performing, whether our hospitals are full and which populations are being affected the most,” says Carol Burrell, NGHS president & CEO. “Sharing this data gives everyone easy access to the answers each day, empowering them to make more informed decisions to protect themselves and their loved ones.”

When you visit nghs.com and click “Latest Data” at the top of the page, the first chart you’ll see shows a rolling 7-day average of the percentage of tests NGHS has provided that come back positive. Each positive is measured from the date of the test, not the date of the result. The chart includes an orange line representing the 7-day rolling average of the state’s percent positive rate, as well as a yellow line representing the 5% mark the World Health Organization (WHO) advises a community should be at or under before full-scale reopening. You can even zoom in on the graph to get a closer look at specific time periods.

“The chart shows the percent positive rate in our community is still well above the state’s rolling average and three times greater than the 5% mark – which is where we would like to see it,” says Supriya Mannepalli, MD, Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s medical director of Infectious Disease Medicine. “It’s proof that we have a long way to go in this region, especially as we head into a fall filled with uncertainty.”

The second chart on the page shows how many beds are currently filled and available across the system’s four hospitals, as well as how many of those beds are occupied by COVID patients or patients waiting on test results (also known as patients under investigation, or PUIs).

“The chart shows we have been very close to running out of beds since mid-July, when COVID volumes increased sharply,” says John Delzell, MD, one of NGHS’ COVID-19 Incident Commanders with a background in Public Health. “It seems very likely that relaxed social distancing and large gatherings around the 4th of July weekend drove the increase in cases. We should all keep that in mind as schools reopen and the Labor Day weekend approaches. We all need to make responsible decisions for our community’s health.”

“All it would take is one more big increase in COVID cases to force us to make the difficult decision to stop providing elective surgeries and other important services to free up resources or risk being overrun,” says Clifton Hastings, MD, Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s chief of Medical Staff. “That’s why it’s vital for people to continue following the 3Ws – wear a mask, watch your distance and wash your hands – to help limit the spread of the virus.”

Other charts on the page illustrate confirmed COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths by age groups – as well as confirmed cases by race, ethnicity and gender.

“This data clearly shows the virus does not discriminate, and it’s not just a problem for any one group in our community,” says Antonio Rios, MD, chief physician executive for Northeast Georgia Physicians Group and a member of the state’s Hall County COVID-19 Task Force. “It’s a shame that conversations and simple actions to protect each other have become so politicized. We are all facing this pandemic together, and it will take everyone working together to overcome it.”

You can get daily alerts about when the charts and data are updated by following NGHS on social media. Visit nghs.com/connect for links to the system’s pages on Facebook, Instagram and other platforms.

“All of our physicians, nurses and employees – from clinical workers on the frontlines to the people who mine this data from our records – continue to bring their best every day,” says Burrell. “They do it for you, because they truly care about improving the health of our community in all we do.”

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ABOUT NORTHEAST GEORGIA HEALTH SYSTEM

Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) is a non-profit on a mission of improving the health of our community in all we do. Our team cares for more than 1 million people across the region through four hospitals and a variety of outpatient locations. Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) has campuses in Gainesville, Braselton, Winder and Dahlonega – with a total of more than 700 beds and more than 1,100 medical staff members representing more than 50 specialties. Learn more at www.nghs.com.

 

ABOUT FETCH YOUR NEWS

Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. FYN attracts 300,000+ page views per month, 3.5 million impressions per month and approximately 15,000 viewers per week on FYNTV.com and up to 60,000 Facebook page reach. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com

 

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