August 20, 2021

Our Common Cause

Big Picture, Central, Clinical Partners, Work Life

We are in the midst of another COVID-19 surge – now the fourth wave – and it feels like a different pandemic. This once-in-a-generation public health crisis has tested us all, and our teams are feeling the full range of emotions. Exhaustion and frustration. Fear and stress. And in many cases, gratitude for how we’ve supported one another through it all.

One thing is becoming increasingly clear as COVID-19 variants impact our employees, their families, and our communities: we need to rally together to beat this pandemic. That is our common cause.

Dr. Ken Holmen, CentraCare CEO, recently talked with Dr. Jessie Roske, CentraCare Hospitalist, who has been involved in caring for COVID-19 patients since the beginning (listen to the podcast here).

“I was in the room when we intubated our second patient, and at that time we didn’t know how the virus spread,” said Roske. “We didn’t know how we’d prevent ourselves from getting ill and it was scary. But after a lot of soul searching, I knew I was doing the right thing. As a physician, I signed up to do this.”

Important decisions

Those early experiences were hard for everyone. There were many unknowns, and our teams used the limited tools available to fight this terrible virus. For many, the hope was in a vaccine. Now that vaccines are available, we need to make decisions not only as healthcare leaders, but also as moms and dads, brothers and sisters, and community members.

“What keeps me up at night is knowing that unless we have a coalition of the willing, the pandemic will beat us.”

Dr. Ken holmen, CEO, CentraCare

“What keeps me up at night is knowing that unless we have a coalition of the willing, the pandemic will beat us,” said Dr. Holmen. “This virus mutates and it’s now affecting younger people. The New England Journal of Medicine recently published information about ‘long haul COVID patients’, stating that at least 14 million people will live with COVID symptoms the rest of their life. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

While the Delta variant has been able to break through the vaccine with a small number of vaccinated people—less than 1% of COVID infections nationwide—those are not the people experiencing hospitalization or worse. The vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths are among unvaccinated people. Prevention then is the safest path forward for all of us. As our own infectious disease specialist, Dr. Tom Math, has said, “The virus is always worse than the vaccine.”

Crucial conversations

Conversations about vaccinations are challenging for those who are vaccinated and those who are unvaccinated.

“I know that some people are framing this as a choice of freedom, and I truly respect that,” says Dr. Roske. “But when we balance the ethics, we’re saying, you do this for others because we’re in it together. If we don’t beat this together, we’re all going to fail at it together.”

Defeating this pandemic is something that unites us all.

Common cause

“The reality is that we must have a common cause and agree on common methodologies — vaccination and public health measures,” explained Holmen. “We’re taking the step of requiring the vaccine for the health of our employees and our patients, and in doing so, leading our communities.”

“We’re taking the step of requiring the vaccine for the health of our employees and our patients, and in doing so, leading our communities.”

Dr. Ken Holmen, CEO, CentraCare

“As physicians, we all took an oath that our first duty was not to hurt anybody – to do no harm and to help the sick,” says Roske. “We need to recognize that sometimes, our actions or inactions can hurt others. And in this case, our inactions might be making people sick. It might not feel real, but it’s very real to the people in our ICU right now and their families. They didn’t think they’d be here, but this is as real as it gets.”

To listen to the full podcast discussion between Dr. Holmen and Dr. Roske, click below: