#InThisTogether: 08 JUN 2020

With everything that’s going on during the COVID-19 crisis, we want to share stories about what Cook people are doing during this difficult time. All around the Cook world, we are #InThisTogether, and we would love to hear stories about how you and your coworkers are stepping up to make a difference. If you have a story to share, please email us at BlogEditor@CookMedical.com.

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Please note: The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.

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Critical Care products and the USNS Comfort

By Ashley McGuire, an Editorial Content specialist for Corporate Marketing and Communications

A late-night email notification on John Chadwick’s phone set off a chain of events that ultimately resulted in Cook Medical supplying much-needed products to the USNS Comfort in New York City. The US Navy ship was deployed in March and April to treat COVID-19 (C-19) patients.

John is part of Cook’s Government team under the BusinessCare Integration (BCI) umbrella. The team is led by Kerri Guise, a Navy veteran, and comprised of Government account executives (two of them US Army veterans) who are focused on Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD) hospitals, as well as, developing relationships with national contracting entities and government healthcare decision makers in Washington, DC. The members of this team have backgrounds and expertise in several Cook specialties, including Peripheral Intervention, Aortic Intervention, Critical Care, and Surgery. They work with the Cook sales teams for both the Vascular and MedSurg divisions to help navigate the government healthcare system and develop business opportunities.

“The strength of this team lies in its diversity and depth of knowledge,” Kerri said. “Among the eight of us, we have over 100 years of Cook and healthcare experience. In times like these, it’s this experience that helps us rise to the unique challenges we face, especially, within the government healthcare system.”

The email John received was from the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and requested help in procuring some of Cook’s Critical Care products. He reached out to Kerri, a former Critical Care regional sales manager. The two products the US Navy ship was requesting were not available. One was discontinued and the other was on backorder. Kerri quickly researched alternate products and proposed Cook Spectrum^® Central Venous Catheters (CVCs) and Blue Rhino^® Advanced Percutaneous Tracheostomy Introducers to the DLA. The Blue Rhino Introducer is used to facilitate ICU placement of a tracheostomy tube for patients requiring ventilation. Cook Spectrum CVCs are used to administer drugs and fluids to patients being treated in the ICU and the Emergency Department. The DLA then reached out to the clinicians on the ship to determine whether the alternate products would be clinically acceptable. They were. Kerri worked with the prime vendor, Cardinal, to fulfill the order and with Cook’s Customer Support and Delivery to ensure the order shipped overnight to the USNS Comfort at its New York location.

There were a lot of moving parts, making it difficult to get this order through quickly and efficiently. But because of Kerri’s and John’s relationship with the DLA and a quick response time, they were able to provide the products needed for the ship’s C-19 mission.

“The creation of Cook’s Government team was a result of transformation and directing resources to the largest Cook customer,” John said. “If this team hadn’t come together and created the relationships and knowledge base of how the government entities operate, the DLA wouldn’t have reached out to us for help.”

“This is a great example of the Cook values for serving patients—even in these extremely unique circumstances, everyone stepped up and got the job done,” Kerri said.

She also noted that the hashtag #InThisTogether is a perfect format for stories like this that are happening throughout Cook.

“For me, it was the sense of urgency to get Cook products to the people of New York City, and to help the Navy personnel aboard the USNS Comfort perform their mission successfully,” Kerri said. “That’s what motivated me to stay on this project until I knew it had been delivered to the ship.”

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Please note: The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.

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