The effort to build and open Wexford Hospital has included several obstacles, including keeping construction workers safe.
Allegheny Health Network has had to rise to several challenges in opening a new hospital during the coronavirus pandemic.
Constructing and opening a new hospital is a daunting task under the best of circumstances. The effort is more arduous during a global pandemic, with logistical and operational barriers to overcome.
AHN is set to open Wexford Hospital in Wexford, Pennsylvania, in September. The hospital is being built next to AHN's Wexford Health + Wellness Pavilion, a large outpatient services facility. Features of the 160-bed hospital include a women's labor and delivery unit, neonatal intensive care unit, a 24-bed emergency department, and a variable acuity ICU.
One challenge has been keeping construction workers safe, says Wexford Hospital President Allan Klapper, MD.
"Education was critical. We kept our construction colleagues informed of what they needed to do to stay safe—what symptoms to be concerned about, how to stay socially distanced, wearing masks, and adding personal protective equipment stations into the facility. They had daily safety meetings. We were fortunate that when COVID hit, most of the work was being done outside, and the building had not been completely enclosed," he says.
AHN has also made pandemic-related medical services available to construction workers, Klapper says. "We reached out to our construction colleagues when it came time for the coronavirus testing and vaccination programs that we were doing to make sure that those programs were available to them."
The hospital project's construction contractor, Providence, Rhode Island-based Gilbane, had to closely monitor the ordering of materials, he says. "When COVID first hit and work stopped across the world, Gilbane and the trades had to go through and determine which materials had yet to arrive and where they were coming from. If the materials were coming from overseas or there was the potential for delays, they ordered those materials as quickly as possible so we could get the materials on time and not have construction delays."
Staff recruitment
The pandemic has affected how AHN has recruited staff for Wexford Hospital, Klapper says.
"The biggest challenge has been that we had a schedule of events that were supposed to take place over the course of the past year to attract workers and inform the community about job opportunities that are available in the hospital. We could not do those in-person events during the pandemic, so we had to adapt a completely virtual recruitment program," he says.
The virtual recruitment effort has gone well, says Amy Cashdollar, DBA, RN, chief operating officer of Wexford Hospital. "I have been working with the talent team to do several virtual career fairs with the colleges in the area. One of the virtual career fairs attracted more than 120 people to hear about the job opportunities at Wexford Hospital. It was great to see that level of interest."
Staff training and orientation
AHN has adopted new approaches to staff training and orientation to open Wexford Hospital, Cashdollar says.
"From a training perspective, we are looking at a lot of different ways to deploy training. We are being mindful of group size and how large of a group we will be allowed to congregate. We are looking at hybrid education models, time in the building, time in the classroom, and training by Zoom. We plan to use a variety of different training methodologies to get employees set up from an orientation perspective," she says.
Community events
The pandemic has had a major impact on the ability of AHN to hold community events associated with the new hospital, Klapper says.
"At this point, we are at a standstill. We are planning two parallel pathways as we get closer to opening the hospital. First, under the assumption that enough of the population will be vaccinated and we do not have additional COVID surges, we will be able to have a ribbon-cutting and VIP ceremony. Although this kind of event may not be as large as what we would typically hold, it should be large enough with members of the community and our employees to celebrate the opening of the hospital. Second, we are being realistic that there could be another surge, and we could pivot to have a virtual event or an event on a much smaller scale," he says.
Related: SSM Health Opening New Hospital Despite Coronavirus Pandemic Obstacles
Christopher Cheney is the CMO editor at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
To staff the new hospital, AHN has had to shift from in-person recruitment events to virtual events.
Staff training and orientation has also been affected by the pandemic, necessitating smaller group sizes and virtual training sessions.