MY PERSPECTIVE
Thomas
GARREN COLVIN
President and CEO,
St. Elizabeth Healthcare
A FEW YEARS AGO
during the Ebola scare,
we formed an Infectious
Disease Response Team in
case we were inundated,
which we weren’t. We kept
the team in place with pe-
riodic training, so when
COVID-19 hit our radar, we
pressed “go” and activated
them. We dedicated one of
our four Northern Ken-
tucky facilities to be our
COVID-19 center, Ft.
Thomas. Our facilities
people turned four wings
of that hospital into isola-
tion wards, reworking the
air and heating flow to cre-
ate totally independent
systems.
I’m so impressed by the
hard work of our 9,000
physicians and associates.
I would stop by Ft.
to meet and talk with our
staff, hoping to uplift them
and show support—but
they always uplifted me.
Their attitude going onto
shifts and coming off of
shifts was remarkable. I
never missed a day of work
in the office, nor has anyone
on our leadership team. If
we asked our associates to
be on the front lines in our
hospitals, I wanted us to be
there too.
We’re excited to be one
of 10 U.S. hospitals work-
ing on a clinical trial for a
new COVID-19 drug treat-
ment. We got involved be-
cause of our relationship
with [Covington-based
clinical research and con-
sulting firm] CTI; we told
them St. Elizabeth had the
interest and the capacity to
ramp up research quickly,
which is the key with this
virus. It’s a phase II trial,
meaning smaller-scale, in-
house research. If success-
ful, phase III will involve
the general public.
Health care facilities
across this region were the
safest places for the public
during the pandemic. Too
many people died at home
or got in bad shape at home
because they were afraid
to see their doctor or go to
the hospital. It didn’t have
to happen. We prepared
for the worst case, which
thankfully hasn’t hap-
pened, and we’re ready for
a second COVID-19 spike
in the coming months.
More than 80 percent of
those who tested positive
for COVID-19 showed only
mild or no symptoms, so
it’s hard to say how wide-
spread it is in our commu-
nities right now.
—AS TOLD TO JOHN FOX
PHOTOGRAPH BY JEREMY KRAMER