Thursday, February 24, 2022
San Juan Regional Medical Center No Longer in Crisis Standards of Care
San Juan Regional Medical Center is pleased to announce that we are no longer in crisis standards of care. After months of extremely high demand for patient care with the highest numbers of COVID-19 admissions we’ve seen since the pandemic began, patient volumes have lessened.
Throughout our time operating in crisis standards of care, which began in early November, we have been fortunate and grateful to receive incredible support to help us manage our resources and provide care for our community. The New Mexico Department of Health facilitated the deployment of a group of caregivers from Jogan Health Solutions.
The United States Department of Health and Human Services National Disaster Medical System deployed three separate Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT) and one critical care team to San Juan Regional Medical Center to provide needed assistance and staffing.
The United States Department of Defense, at the request of FEMA, sent two Navy Medical Response Teams to the hospital over the holidays to help our caregivers during the surge. All the caregiving groups we received were welcomed warmly, integrated into the clinical care model at SJRMC immediately, and worked alongside our caregivers to provide needed care for our community.
“We cannot thank these incredible caregivers and the lawmakers who helped us secure their help enough. They came without hesitation and joined in immediately, providing immense relief and hope for our frontline caregivers who have been working nonstop since the pandemic began,” said Jeff Bourgeois, President and CEO. “More importantly, I want to thank and recognize the incredible caregivers who have stuck with San Juan Regional Medical Center during this pandemic. Their loyalty to San Juan Regional, and the patients we serve in our community, is the foundation of community service our organization is built upon.”
“The impact has been in alleviating some of the stress, but the other impact has just been the morale of our team, having that support there," Dr. Robert Underwood, Chief Medical Officer, said. “To have those assets here, and to have them just become part of our overall team, has really been great.”
The sentiment was echoed by Navy Medical Response Team Charlie, as well as Team Delta.
“Thank you for all the many ways you and the community have shown kindness and hospitality to us while deployed over the holidays. We’ve been so very honored to serve and support alongside SJRMC in protecting Four Corners citizens from this virus. It’s said we Navy sailors have friends in every port, and now we have forever-friends in the ‘Port’ of Farmington,” said Capt. Regina O’Nan of Team Charlie.
“This is the first time in my career I have been boots on the ground at a U.S. facility helping U.S. citizens. I really want to emphasize to the staff, this has been an incredible rewarding experience. We’ve been in the trenches together. Hands down there is not a better hospital, hospital staff that our team could have had than all of you,” said Cmdr. Theodor Zainal of Team Delta.
Throughout the crisis standards of care declaration, San Juan Regional Medical Center was able to support inpatient and outpatient care, as well as ancillary services for both COVID and non-COVID patients, thanks to the assistance we received. We encourage our community to continue making their health a priority. Don’t delay care when you need it. Continue to do everything in your power to stop the spread of COVID-19 such as getting vaccinated and boosted and follow COVID-safe practices. It takes all of us – together – to reduce the demand for precious healthcare resources so we can stay out of crisis standards of care and take a more conventional approach to meeting our community’s healthcare needs.