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"We truly supported each other throughout the height of COVID-19 challenges here at Antelope Memorial Hospital," said Marvi Pruden, RN and nursing supervisor. "Everyone was wonderful about coming in as needed and talking through it – laughing through it. This was especially true when we had a high COVID census. It also included when COVID illness caused issues for AMH employees, their families and/or their children's schools/daycares."

To help ensure the safety of AMH's employees and patients, a special COVID team began meeting each week. The team consisted of staff members from administration, medical staff, laboratory, pharmacy, respiratory therapy, infection control, materials management, environmental services and nursing. Recommendations from the North Central District Health Department and Centers for Disease Control were followed. Guidelines were determined for safely delivering patient care in-house, while minimizing possible exposure to COVID-19.

Under the team's directions, action was promptly taken. Early on, personal protective equipment gear was made available to all direct caregivers through the efforts of the materials management staff.

Special units, to destroy viruses and provide negative pressure, were installed in eight patient rooms dedicated to COVID patients.

Melodie Funk, unit coordinator (and AMH COVID queen), provided training to emergency medical technicans, providers and other employees for correctly getting into and removing PPE gear.

To date, team meetings and guideline implementations continue.

Environmental services remains committed to disinfecting rooms and handling the increased workloads of laundry. Respiratory therapy plays a key role in monitoring oxygen levels and assisting with breathing issues. Dietary's extra efforts to wrap COVID patient meals keeps food warm longer in the COVID wing.

AMH's infection control director, Liz Furstenan, continues to work long hours to stay abreast of and share the latest updates and answer questions about navigating COVID challenges. Lab personnel continue to collect driveby samples for COVID testing.

This winter, they also brought in-house lab testing to AMH.

The AMH medical staff remains committed to caring for their patients and providing leadership. Diane Carlin, AMH CEO and COVID team member, continues to provide guidance for navigating AMH's financial challenges while working closely with key staff members in coordinating services.

Antelope Memorial Hospital and its clinics also offered services in several unique ways to reduce the spread of COVID. The former AMH Family Practice Clinic in Neligh was reopened to offer a separate clinic location for patients without symptoms of COVID. Patients with symptoms of COVID were kept separate and only seen in the new clinic in Neligh.

While other hospitals reduced staffing, AMH administration chose to hire additional staff (college and high school students) to work when needed. Plus, AMH employees were asked to cross-train – in order to help other departments as needed.

AMH also took steps to help residents across northeast Nebraska. AMH provided hospital care for recovering COVID patients from hospitals in Lincoln, Omaha and Norfolk. This served to make more beds available in the bigger hospitals for patients critically ill with COVID. Currently, AMH offers COVID-19 shots to the appropriate age-groups on behalf of the local health department.

Overall, it was and continues to be a team effort at AMH, with a focus "on the details". The goal is to ensure the patient experience is positive while their care is safely delivered.

"I am very appreciative of our staff here at Antelope Memorial Hospital," said Diane Carlin, AMH CEO. "We have a very loyal and dedicated team of men and women who often work under extreme conditions. It's been a team effort and they continue to meet the challenges with courage, grace and in 'service to others.'"