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Sponsored by: Hartford HealthCare
March 15, 2021

COVID-19, one year later.

A message from Hartford HealthCare’s President and Chief Executive Officer

Recalling the arrival of Hartford HealthCare’s first COVID-19 patient one year ago brings forth a flood of memories and emotions. At 10 p.m. on Friday, March 13, 2020, my colleagues and I experienced a surreal combination of uncertainty and confidence, fear of the unknown balanced by reliance on our training. On that night, no one could have imagined the enormity of the loss of life, the magnitude of how our world would change. But history is a great teacher — and each of us has lived through 12 long, emotionally challenging months. We can take some lessons from this time.

Here are six:

Health equity

Students could be forgiven for thinking that healthcare disparity is a new topic, one borne out of our nation’s overdue reckoning with racism. Actually, we have known about this crisis for many decades. It took a virus to shine a bright light on its impact and how healthcare systems must make meaningful and lasting improvements. I am proud of our efforts so far at Hartford HealthCare, and have committed to additional action to address health equity head-on. We have held thousands of outreach clinics and mobile care sites to
provide testing and vaccines. We will expand these efforts, through and beyond COVID, with additional physical and emotional health supports — bringing care, hope and healing to those who have been too long ignored and need us most.

Innovation

Home was often the safest place to be during this pandemic. Senior citizens and people with severe medical conditions had no choice. Keeping these patients healthy at home spurred a burst of innovation: remote monitoring devices to keep track of activity and safety; virtual doctors’ appointments for primary, specialty and behavioral healthcare; even robots. Hartford HealthCare’s Independence at Home program brought a voice-activated robot called “Cutii” into clients’ homes. It can provide everything from telemedicine to video-led exercises based on needs. Yes, such developments disrupt the traditional model of healthcare. They’re also effective and in demand.

Supplies

Until last March, most people outside of healthcare had never heard of an N-95 mask. Overnight, there was unprecedented demand for masks and other forms of personal protective equipment. Today, we’ve developed enhanced infection-prevention programs. We have stockpiled warehouses filled with approved equipment, and have created new pathways to secure supplies when demand rises. It has been a challenging undertaking, requiring Hartford HealthCare experts to source materials non-stop from around the globe to maintain readiness. Never again should our great nation find itself shorthanded for basic supplies — without a national strategy to secure basic weapons against a viral enemy.

Information

Before there was a vaccine, there was already a powerful tool to keep people safe: timely, reliable information. Health experts took to every platform — TV, newspapers, websites, social media posts, live-stream events and webinars — to deliver messages intended to inform a worried public. Tens of thousands of people registered for and attended our many virtual seminars. Today, getting sound medical advice need not require a trip to an office building. We embrace that change, and applaud health experts everywhere for meeting people where they are — increasingly, online.

Partnership

America’s healthcare system is rightly criticized for being too fragmented. Yet over the past year, faced with an unfathomable challenge, people and organizations came together. Health systems, individual hospitals, federally qualified health centers, state and local governments, social service agencies, not-for-profit organizations, faith communities and businesses large and small reached out their hands and hearts and made a difference. That type of cooperation for the greater good is as essential as it is heartwarming. It’s a lesson worth holding onto. Only by working together can we emerge into a post-pandemic society that better addresses everyone’s needs.

Heroes everywhere

On every scale, by any measure, the pandemic has been a tragic global crisis. Through it all, the indomitable human spirit has triumphed with daily displays of bravery, ingenuity, teamwork and resilience. Inside our hospitals and programs, and across our state and nation, we have witnessed countless acts of selflessness and compassion. People everywhere broke barriers, devised solutions and focused on a common goal. It is not too much to hope that this cooperation extends beyond the crisis to create a better future. A year later, the finish line lies somewhere up ahead. Though tired, we remain fixed on crossing the line and moving beyond. We do not want to go “back to normal” — not for one minute. Over the long year that has passed, we have created the capacity, acquired the ability and learned the lessons to forge a future that must be “better than normal.”

  

     

 

Jeffrey A. Flaks   

President and Chief Executive Officer   

Hartford HealthCare