COVID positives reported among LBJ medical staff
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — COVID-19 confirmed positives recorded at LBJ Medical Center, reveal eleven of them are hospital employees, including four physicians, said Dr. Akapusi Ledua, acting chief of staff, during last Friday’s virtual news conference,
Dr. Ledua also revealed that the hospital is recruiting additional medical personnel from a U.S. based firm.
Of the 11 employees testing positive, Ledua said four of them are physicians, with three in home isolation and one admitted in the early hours of last Friday. And each physician is from a different LBJ department — Emergency Room, OBGYM/ Family Planning, Eye Clinic and Internal Medicine.
As the affected physicians were from different departments, he said “we’re able to move our staffing around” to help alleviate the shortage, especially in the Emergency Room.
And “we are okay with staffing” as of now, as there is already a plan for scheduling doctors to help out in areas affected, he added.
Specialists from the U.S Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) have completed an assessment of LBJ and developed a plan to expand patient treatment at the hospital.
Ledua said LBJ would be holding a meeting with the USACE team for an update on the assessment and their recommendation.
He also said that the hospital has completed two trainings — and included a presentation last Thursday afternoon, and it was the “critical care” presentation — which was organized and coordinated by “our federal partners — for physicians and nurses.”
He described the presentation as very good, and very informative, providing updates for the critical care of COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital.
On the issue of “medical support”, Dr. Ledua said the hospital is looking forward to the arrival this past weekend of the federal 15-member health care contingent and he thanked the federal partners for this help that is “coming in a timely manner... to help us out at this time.”
Commander A. Okamura — of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S Health and Human Service — said during the news conference that the 15 members from the health and medical task force team, comprise emergency room doctors, nurse practitioners, and ER nurses.
And they will provide “additional surge capacity at LBJ as well as providing technical assistance in training to all staff at the hospital,” said Okamura, who arrived with a group of 29 medical professionals with USDHHS on the Mar. 4 flight with other federal team members.
“We believe the multi approaches that we have taken to support the American Samoa people will hopefully ensure that there’ll be positive-outcomes of when American Samoa pulls through at the other end of the current surge,” he said.
The USDHHS medical team includes two epidemiologists from the federal agency’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dr. Ledua said that second prong of medical support for LBJ is securing an agreement with NuWest Group Staffing Agency, based in Washington state. He said the Attorney General’s Office has completed a legal review of the agreement and it was expected to be signed by LBJ last Friday — which was also the day of the planned Zoom meeting with the NuWest Group officials.