COVER STORY
By M.G. Angulo Photos by Alisa Murray Photography
OakBend Medical Center’s
Modern-Day Heroes Battle COVID-19 on a Collaborative Front
W
hen asked to leave a message for those who will undoubtedly study the coronavirus pandemic decades from now, OakBend Medical Center CEO Joe Freudenberger, offers a rare one — it comes from the perspective of both an everyday citizen and the leader of a hospital. “I would say it was war without anyone shooting at you,” he said somberly. “The enemy was invisible to the naked eye. It was unknown, unstudied and unpredictable. COVID-19 has had a strangling hold on the economy and society’s operations, but the increasing deaths are at the core of the pandemic’s CEO Joe Freudenberger. devastation,” Freudenberger said.
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Since the onset of the pandemic, OakBend’s ICU has been nearly full for the entire duration. “The death rate was draining to our staff,” said Freudenberger in a dismal tone. “But they came back to work the next day, and the next, and the next, and they work in the most stressful environment you can imagine. They are heroes in every sense of the word. At OakBend and every hospital across the country, we have modern-day heroes.”
A Collaborative Approach As the community began to succumb to the virus, OakBend Medical Center personnel did not have the luxury of panic. Instead, the hospital’s physicians, specialists and leaders formed a COVID-19 task force. This team of medical minds cooperated to battle the spread of the virus and manage the treatment of infected patients. The team quickly decided to open a separate hospital unit for COVID-19 patients according to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Patients who tested positive for COVID-19 were placed on
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