#InThisTogether: 13 APR 2020

With everything going on during the COVID-19 crisis, we wanted to share some of the 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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Because of my job, I have been able to meet a lot of different people in a lot of different parts of the company (and the world). A couple of years ago, Keyla Lindell took part in one of the podcast recordings my team did. We have been Facebook friends since then. Knowing that she was still coming in to Park 48 every day during the pandemic, I sent her an email to see how she was doing. Her response, which came at 4:57 am on Thursday, April 2, surprised and inspired me. I asked her if I could share it, and she said yes. – Jon Hancuff, manager, global Editorial Content

Keyla’s Cook-tastic reply

Hey, Jon!

It’s great to hear from you. I’m doing okay. All of this is still a bit surreal. I volunteered to be the leadership on our new second shift to help accommodate the employees who needed to switch because of COVID-19. I’m almost finished with my second week on second shift. I am enjoying it so far. Being a leader always has its challenges, but dealing with all of these changes at once is a whole different level of challenge. I’m just trying to remain positive as always and focus on the good and remind our team that the changes that are being made are for their protection and the protection of our patients.

I try to “bring the fun” when I can. For instance, I post a new “Hand-Washing Song of the Day” on our board every day to make washing your hands for 20 seconds seem a little more fun. I made “stop” and “go” signs for our gowning room monitors so that employees know when it’s safe to enter. I personally love small things or gestures, and I feel like (most) employees appreciate them too. I will keep shining my little light and try to lead my group through this tunnel of darkness!

I will say, I have been very impressed with how communications are going out to the employees during all of this. There’s so much changing so fast it’s hard to keep track of it all from day to day. I’m very thankful to work for such a wonderful company. Especially during these crazy times!

How are you holding up through all of this? I’m sure there are a lot of changes you’re having to deal with as well. Hopefully you’re taking it like a champ!

Thanks again for checking in! Let me know how you’re doing. Have a Cook-tastic day!

I’m off to bed! 😴

– Keyla

Contributing what we can to the fight

This report was put together by Victor Havill, a global product manager for the MedSurg division’s Reproductive Health specialty.

Management of pregnant women with COVID-19 is an area of intense interest for obstetricians around the world as the virus continues to spread. Pregnant women naturally have stressed immune systems, and since a COVID-positive mother can have a COVID-negative baby, best practices must urgently be developed and shared to protect them both.

In mid-March, Dr. Haywood Brown, a past president of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) and of the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), reached out to me to see whether we knew anyone in China who had experience managing these types of cases.

I immediately contacted Jianguo Dai (JD), director of MedSurg China, to see whether we could arrange a meeting between leadership in China and leadership in the US to share and discuss experiences and best practices.

We could not have been more fortunate, as Vivian Li of the Cook China team was able to arrange a video conference with presentations from multiple subject-matter experts (SMEs) from across China. On Friday, March 27, presentations were given to the American OB/GYN leadership, including the current president of the SMFM and other senior leaders from around the US. They shared their experiences in the management of COVID-19-positive pregnancies, including one that summarized the experiences and best practices developed by a major labor-and-delivery hospital in Wuhan, China. The presentations were followed by a lengthy question-and-answer session.

Techniques for virus containment within labor and delivery were shared, as well as best practices and considerations for delivering and isolating the baby to ensure that the virus was not transmitted from the mother.

Dr. Brown said, “I reached out to Cook to try to connect with global thought leaders in maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) on this pressing subject. Through their ingenuity we were able to hold our first of many virtual meetings.”

“It was a very powerful meeting and powerful information, and we hope to do more of this in the future,” Dr. Brown continued. “It has opened to door to future collaboration not only on this pandemic.”

In these times of intense anxiety, we should be proud to have done our small part to connect experts around the world to help to promote healthy mothers and healthy babies. As was stated by Dr. Dunjin Chen, president of the Chinese MFM society, “This is war,” and we all need to contribute what we can to the fight.

I specifically want to thank Jianguo Dai (JD) and Vivian Li for making this event such a success.

– Victor Havill

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