Chester County Hospital and the community it serves have had a special relationship for over 125 years. The community has been the driving force behind Chester County Hospital's growth. As the needs of the community have grown, so has the hospital. When the country was faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, without missing a beat, the employees came together to take care of the community, providing the best care possible during an unprecedented time. Staff participated in additional training to prepare for the surge of COVID-19 patients, and the construction crews worked hard to ready the patient rooms in the new pavilion. And, knowing that nourishing the body can be just as important as protecting it, community members and organizations began bringing meals to the hospital.
“All of a sudden, food donations for our staff members just started showing up. At first, whoever was on hand when it arrived would just take it to their department,” explained Maggie McIntosh, director of Special Projects at CCH. “We wanted to make sure, however, that no one was left out.”
The solution was a spreadsheet that focused on the units significantly affected by and directly caring for COVID-19 patients. “Our goal was to ensure that they got food every day and sometimes multiple times a day,” she said. “We then included other areas in the hospital that may not be as directly involved in the care of these patients but whose roles are just as important.”
To help ensure a constant flow of food to the hospital departments, McIntosh worked with Lisa Finnegan, vice president of the Women’s Auxiliary, to set up a SignUpGenius that was distributed to the community through the hospital’s website, Facebook page, and email. The response has been nothing shy of remarkable. “Each day we have two lunch slots, two dinner slots, two late night slots and a snack slot and there’s rarely a day when one of those goes unfilled,” McIntosh says.
She explained that people who choose to donate are asked to provide a minimum of 25 individually wrapped meals. Some people do as many as 100 and others want to feed the whole hospital. “One day we even had a local pizzeria set up their food truck in our parking lot to feed the entire staff from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.,” McIntosh said. Others have donated money to provide coffee for the hospital for two-week increments. And local bakeries are making sure the staff’s sweet tooth is well sated.
“Some staff go to the cafeteria instead of packing their meals,” explained Jackie Felicetti, chief Human Resources officer. “Now, if they go, they first have to remove their PPE and then put on new PPE when they return. By providing meals for staff on the floors, we can conserve our PPE supply.”
Helping in this hospital wide effort were the hospital’s Gift Shop Manager Brenda Fairchild, and Volunteer Coordinator Carol Dunigan, who helped organize the donations, answer questions, and ensure that meals make it to the units on time.
“This is our hometown hospital and it’s where we, as community members, go when we need help,” McIntosh said. “Now the hospital needs help and the community has come through. These acts of kindness are allowing us to create connections with the people in our community. It’s overwhelming and we’re so incredibly grateful.”