On Wednesday, October 6, Dr. Garrett Feddersen, Medical Director of Emergency Services, and Dr. Kyle Glienke, Chief of Medicine/Critical Services, were recognized as 2021 Iowa Hospital Association Hospital Heroes at the Iowa Hospital Association Annual Virtual Meeting. Both doctors have been key leaders of Buena Vista Regional Medical Center during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Before many of us had ever heard of Wuhan, China, Dr. Feddersen was watching and learning about this new virus. As we were coming out of a busy February flu season, Dr. Feddersen led our team to prepare for COVID-19 by calling together and leading our Incident Command team,” stated one nominator. “When we started to see our first cases in May, our employees were ready with systems and plans to provide the best care.”
Another nominator talked about Dr. Glienke’s leadership in taking care of admitted patients that needed extensive care. One nominator said, “As patients needed to be admitted to our inpatient unit, Dr. Glienke was key to advising staff and being on top of the latest research on caring for COVID-19 patients. With ever changing advice from health care agencies, Dr. Glienke easily pivoted to the various recommendations. His leadership helped our nursing team feel more confident and supported which allowed them to provide great care to patients.”
Communication was key for BVRMC and both doctors made this a priority. Dr. Feddersen did a variety of radio ads, Facebook videos, and newspaper stories to help communicate what we knew at the time and how people could prevent the spread. Dr. Glienke attended daily nurse huddles, even when we had no patients on the floor, so staff could see his presence and have all questions answered.
While CDC recommendations and community case counts were ever changing, the leadership of Dr. Feddersen and Dr. Glienke helped BVRMC team feel confident in their skills and ready for what each new day would bring.
“Our hospital continues to be ready and provide great local care to our community. While this pandemic has required every employee to help, we credit much of BVRMC’s success to our Hospital Heroes Dr. Feddersen and Dr. Glienke. They are both very worthy of this honor,” says CEO Rob Colerick.
Every year the Iowa Hospital Association receives multiple nominations for the Hospital Hero Award. 11 candidates were selected as 2021 IHA Hospital Heroes.