Twenty-four Habersham Medical Center employees spent the night at the hospital Sunday night, when the snow started, to be sure that they were ready to work their shifts and handle urgent cases.
"We were able to maintain operations," said Janice McKenzie, senior vice president of patient care services. "We put our contingency plans into action and everything went well. Most elective surgeries and procedures were postponed, and we never ran out or got low on supplies. The main concern was ensuring key personnel or essential employees arrived to and from the medical center safely. Those scheduled to work the early part of the week came in Sunday night prepared to stay in-house for several days so services were not interrupted. They arrived with a sense of 'we are here and ready to serve'."
The 24-private bed outpatient surgery center was converted into sleeping quarters for the employees. This meant more work for support departments including housekeeping, laundry and dietary.
"The housekeeping staff willingly cleaned the employee sleeping rooms and bathrooms and continued their regular workloads without complaint," says McKenzie.
The dietary staff also worked extra hours to make sure hot meals were served to all patients, visitors, nursing home residents and employees. The engineering staff also worked tirelessly night and day to clear steps and walkways, salting and sanding where ever people might need to walk. They also traveled throughout the county to transport staff and physicians to and from the medical center.
McKenzie added doctors really stepped up to assist as well. Several of them spent the night at the hospital while others stayed in a nearby hotel to be available as needed; ensuring our critical patients had care around the clock.
"While working side-by-side with the front line employees and physicians at Habersham Medical Center, I was in awe of them
HCMC engineering employee Chad Cobb clears snow from the walkways in front of the Habersham Medical Center Emergency Department.
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