Staff from Montage Health and Community Hospital understood the importance of getting the COVID-19 vaccine to community members as quickly as it arrived. A vaccine clinic was set up at Community Hospital in December 2020, with a second clinic opening shortly thereafter at Montage Wellness Center in Marina. Other pop-up clinics, hosted by Montage Health, were held to reach high-risk populations on the peninsula. We are thankful for the more than 700 community and staff volunteers who contributed more than 18,754 hours of their time to this critical effort.
The privilege of providing covid vaccines for our community was a
tremendously meaningful experience for all of the staff and volunteers
who were involved. For the first time, we all felt hopeful — for the end
of the pandemic and the end of the suffering — where before, many
felt powerless to stop the horrible effects of the virus. Seeing that
same hope, as well as gratitude, on the faces of those we served was
deeply moving. None of us thought we’d ever have the chance to save
the world, but that’s exactly what we did, for our little corner of it.
— Cynthia Peck, Vice President, Montage Health
Even though I have worked through other outbreaks and pandemics
as an infectious disease physician and educator, I hoped never to see
a pandemic like COVID-19 in my lifetime. It became very apparent
that my prior experience teaching medical and grad students
would help me communicate with our Montage Health clinical staff
and with our community as information evolved quickly around
COVID-19. I’m incredibly impressed by how our staff, the media, and
our community responded quickly to new information as we found
ways to fight this pandemic.
— Martha Blum, MD, PhD, Medical Director, Infection Prevention,
Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula
1,413,686 visits to our dedicated COVID-19 website
750+ media engagements and responses
2,336,417 COVID-19 email updates sent to community members through
47 separate communications
25+ live online engagements hosted by medical experts for community
members and special groups
For me, being a nurse means being someone’s light in a dark place,
someone’s advocate when they are vulnerable, and providing them
with the care that they are unable to provide for themselves. Covid has
made me and the amazing Garden West team really double down on
our commitment to providing the best possible patient care despite
our own fears and doubts.
— Grace Coulson, RN, Garden West COVID-19 charge nurse, Community Hospital
It’s hard to believe sometimes that the COVID-19 pandemic was first announced in December of 2019 and moved quickly to our area in early spring 2020. Much has been done, and we will continue do all we can to fight the pandemic.
31
First confirmed
COVID-19 case in
Wuhan, China
21
First confirmed
COVID-19 case in U.S.
First COVID-19 test sent
from Community
Hospital to CDC
26
First confirmed
COVID-19 case in
California
30
World Health
Organization declares
global emergency
6
First confirmed
COVID-19 death in U.S.
2
Monterey County
activates Emergency
Operations Center
3
Montage Health
activates Hospital
Incident Command
System
4
California declares state
of emergency
9
Montage Health
launches free online
doctor visits for those
with respiratory
symptoms
11
Community Hospital
opens emergency triage
tent
16
Community Hospital
suspends elective
surgeries and procedures
Montage Medical Group
introduces video visits
17
First two confirmed
COVID-19 cases in
Monterey County;
Monterey County issues
shelter-in-place order
20
First death in Monterey
County due to
complications from
COVID-19
21
First COVID-19 positive
case at Community
Hospital
27
MoGo Urgent Care,
Monterey, opens
30
First death at
Community Hospital
related to COVID-19
Community Hospital
designates Garden
West a COVID-19 unit
6
MoGo Urgent Care,
Marina opens
11
First in-house COVID-19
testing available at
Community Hospital
6
California launches
first two free COVID-19
community testing sites
for Monterey County
9-13
Lightning Formation
Airshow Group and
the California Air
National Guard salute
healthcare workers and
first responders with
hospital flyovers
18
Community Hospital
resumes many services
and elective surgeries
that were scaled back
due to COVID-19,
following strict CDC
protocols
19
First Monterey
Peninsula drive-through
COVID-19 testing site
opens at Monterey
Peninsula College
21
Montage Health
deactivates Hospital
Incident Command
System after 80 days
30
Monterey County gets
approval from the
state to start opening
some non-essential
businesses
31
California rolls out the
Blueprint For a Safer
Economy, a color-tiered
system of reopening
based on COVID-19
metrics
14
Montage Health
reactivates Hospital
Incident Command
System as cases
increase in the county
20
MoGo Urgent Care,
Carmel opens
16
Community Hospital
receives first delivery
of COVID-19 vaccine
(Pfizer)
18
Community Hospital
holds first COVID-19
vaccination clinic for
healthcare workers
2-15
Highest number of
COVID-19 positive
patients at Community
Hospital (50 in
isolation). Half of
hospital patients were
COVID-19 patients in
isolation or recovery
10
Second COVID-19
vaccination clinic opens
at Montage Wellness
Center, Marina
24
Visitors allowed back
at Community Hospital,
with restrictions
8
Montage Health
deactivates Hospital
Incident Command
System
12
Community Hospital
takes down emergency
triage tent after one
year of screening
patients with respiratory
symptoms
16
Community Hospital
reaches 80 COVID-19
deaths
15
California’s governor,
Gavin Newsom, declares
the state is open for
most activities without
a mask for those who
are vaccinated
22
Montage Wellness
Center, Marina, holds
its last high-volume
vaccine clinic
30
COVID-19 Delta variant
detected in Monterey
County
Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the
quiet voice at the end of the day saying ‘I will try again
tomorrow.’
— Mary Anne Radmacher
Our world learned a lot about the stresses a pandemic can put on the supply chain for critical medical and personal protective equipment (PPE). To best prepare for the future, Montage Health has increased its back-up supply by investing $1.5 million in PPE.