Pennsylvania Hospital rang in the new year this January, and with that, another year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with a new year, our staff has had to quickly acclimate to new patient care protocols as the pandemic develops, now battling new variants of the virus. While these developments have brought on hardships and impacted all aspects of our lives, this past year has also brought us together in new and inspiring ways.
At the end of 2020, we were the first hospital in the system to provide COVID-19 vaccines for our frontline staff. We later joined together to expand our vaccination outreach in 2021 through a series of clinics within Philadelphia to protect our surrounding communities from the virus.
PAH added another element of protection at the hospital through the installment of the new Evolv security systems, placed at our high-volume entryways to ensure a safe work environment for all PAH employees, patients, and visitors.
For the second year, we shifted our workplace events and holiday celebrations from the typical in-person gatherings to virtual spaces. Despite these new arrangements, we remained connected, as these new settings allowed us to safely reach our whole community, from those working directly at PAH to those working remotely at their homes.
Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee met in these digital settings to discuss how to shape PAH into a more inclusive environment for all who enter. Our first annual DEI Summit allowed the committee to strategize ways to bring us even closer through advocacy work and to share the same respectful culture.
We shaped the culture of PAH another step further through our bi-monthly Proud Rounds to strengthen connections between executive leadership and our staff at PAH. We want to hear your thoughts on how we can achieve a higher caliber of patient care and to identify opportunities to improve operations at the hospital as we prepare to relaunch our Meet the CEO Round Tables in 2022.
And finally, we wrapped the year up with our annual holiday drives, featured in this issue of What’s New, which inspired the spirit of giving at PAH. The drives were a success, drawing our employees to the many donation locations around the hospital to support the community in any way they could through gift cards, food, clothing, and personal care items to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
I look forward to the ways we will continue to stay connected and maintain our culture of togetherness at PAH, and I wish you all a happy new year.