At the beginning, people were more anxious — they needed more support. I had a couple of people who were crying with me, particularly when nobody else was in the tent; it was more private. They were anxious and afraid.
— Maria Kocsar, RN, who spent many days in the triage tent, the first stop for people who might be COVID-19-positive
is the first stop for COVID-19 patients
People were asked to shelter in place, to stay at home, and they did, emptying the streets and highways, the malls and restaurants, and the halls and patient rooms at Community Hospital.
[ MARCH 25 2020 ]
When I take care of a patient with coronavirus, I have to take a pause and make sure I’m not rushing and that I have mine and my patient’s health in mind. I have a family and a daughter, and I have to be as sensible as I can.
— Casey Grover, MD, Emergency department medical director, husband of an Emergency department doctor, and father of Kai, 10
[ APRIL 13 2020 ]
The triage tent check-in desk was quickly erected with MacGyver-style ingenuity, a shower curtain from Target separating staff from patients.
We are ER people. We use duct tape and all sorts of stuff to make things happen.
— Susan Burnell, RN, director, Emergency department
[ APRIL 13 2020 ]
From Emergency department doctor Stephanie Gardner’s Instagram:
My makeshift work station. I’m excited to trial video telemedicine into our CHOMP ER disaster tent from home! … If it works, I will still physically work my shifts in the ER, but will also be available to see patients on my off hours from home to help. I’m happy to work in a hospital that’s open to new ideas and supports physicians to trial cutting-edge technology. Also I like wearing flip flops while working.
[ MARCH 26 2020 ]
is routine for staff
Getting it right in training keeps everyone safe during the real thing.
[ APRIL 13 2020 ]
Faces of our Emergency department staff —
our front line of defense.
[ APRIL 2020 ]
Dr. Martha Blum embraces family time with her children, Ellie and Miles (and rescue dog Kodachrome), in between long stretches of intense work — a stint of 33 straight 12- to 13-hour days — as medical director of infection prevention, the point person for much of the COVID-19 battle plan.
[ APRIL 25 2020 ]
People don’t really know what supply chain is until they reach for something, and it’s not there.
— Barney Morgan, warehouse supervisor, 21 years, now in charge of the mountain of pandemic supplies
[ APRIL 24 2020 ]
are scrubbed and sanitized
I’m going to do the best I can do. I could be the one using this room tonight.
— Maria Barajas, as she scrubs the walls, the door, everything in a room where a COVID-19 patient was cared for
[ APRIL 21 2020 ]
With visitor restrictions, chaplains were called upon more than ever for comfort, for company, and even to help set up video calls that connect patients with their loved ones in the outside world.
[ APRIL 21 2020 ]
Montage Wellness Center, shuttered and still during the state-ordered shelter in place.
[ MARCH 18 2020 ]
Information has been one of the best medicines; infection prevention coordinator Heather Bowers shares masking practices with KSBW’s Erin Clark.
[ APRIL 24 2020 ]
As harvests ramped up in the Salinas Valley, growers reached out for help to talk to farmworkers about COVID-19. Nurses from Community Hospital and the county’s three other hospitals headed to the fields, to share information about the dangers of the virus and how to reduce its spread.
[ MAY 14 2020 ]
cleans N95 masks for reuse
The world learned a new acronym — PPE — personal protective equipment — the gear that stands between us and the virus.
[ APRIL 21 2020 ]
Wendy McCraner stepped away from her nursing role at Community Hospital and into her second job, with the Navy Reserves, flying to Guam for a 9-month commitment to help with the hundreds of sailors on the USS Roosevelt infected with COVID-19.
I’m not nervous for my own health. I’m more worried about not being home with my friends and family, and if anything happened to them while I was so far away.
[ APRIL 22 2020 ]
With this gift, we are letting the entire medical team know that we support you and appreciate your hard work. You are fighting and risking your health every day to treat patients and save lives. We hope to show you that we are in this with you.
— Paul and Helen Baszucki, whose $500,000 gift to Montage Health Foundation started a fund to raise money for COVID-related critical needs
[ APRIL 14 2020 ]
Generous gifts from hundreds of community members like the Baszuckis have provided more than $2 million to date to support the health, safety, and resilience of our patients and healthcare workers, including free COVID-19 testing for 500 frontline staff to keep our hospital as safe as possible.
Andy Weiss goes home
I could never have imagined teetering between life and death, and that I would end up on a life-support ventilator for 8 days. The good Lord above is giving me a second chance at this life.
— Andy Weis, a Monterey jazz drummer, going home after his 25-day fight for survival
[ APRIL 27 2020 ]
Generous gifts from hundreds of community members have provided more than $2 million to date to support the health, safety, and resilience of our patients and healthcare workers. From sewing masks to donating food to posting signs of appreciation, your warmth and resolve inspire us every day. We are profoundly grateful to be part of such a strong, compassionate community.
Support our continued effort at montagehealthfoundation.org
The pandemic unfolds
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