Changes from COVID-19 era that might just stick around for McHenry County health care providers

When hospitals first closed their doors to visitors in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19, Northwestern Medicine hospitals in McHenry and Huntley provided patients with iPads to visit with family members and loop them into conversations with medical providers so they could stay updated.

The hospitals plan to keep this as an option even as visitors return to patients’ bedsides, said Catie Schmit, chief nurse executive at Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital.

Local health care providers made a lot of changes to adapt their operations to the world of COVID-19, and as they begin to imagine a post-pandemic world, they said some changes will continue to serve their patients after the pandemic ends and some they can’t wait to get rid of.

In McHenry County’s hospitals, front-line workers were “charged with innovating” to build a new model of care that was safer, more efficient and one that supported the resiliency of patients and staff in a truly terrible time, Schmit said.

“As things are starting to stabilize, we really are assessing, which of those innovations or processes are we going to keep and continue? And what things should we sunset?” Schmit said in an interview.

Another Northwestern Medicine COVID-19 standard that will stick around are “comfort rounds” when hospital leaders walk around the hospital checking in on patients and staff to see how they are doing, taking special care to connect with patients who are not able to have outside visitors, Schmit said.

In Woodstock, Oakford Physical Therapy owner and physical therapist Molly Oakford said she used the initial COVID-19 shutdown to renovate the office, and the pressures of the pandemic led her to reimagine the layout of the building in a way she is now thankful for.

“It made me assess my physical space for safety and the 6-foot social distancing aspect,” Oakford said.

The result was a much more open space that now allows Oakford to bring a new program inside of the clinic, she said.

In addition to orthopedic physical therapy services, she offers a program that uses the pilates model to provide physical therapy in a new way. Oakford said she used to host the class outside, but can now offer it under her own roof.

Oakford Physical Therapy also will keep other small changes that came with COVID-19, such as increased cleaning procedures and asking clients to wait in their cars before coming in for their appointment, she said.

In the world of mental health, on the other hand, the therapists of New Hope Counseling Center can’t wait to get rid of the changes brought on by the pandemic, owner Melanie Johnson said.

It was helpful and necessary to move the clinic’s patients to tele-health video visits for the past year, but Johnson said they are glad to begin to close the door on this pandemic-era adaptation.

“While there’s all these like articles and stories about companies starting to do more work from home and allowing flexible schedules, for our industry with mental health, it really isn’t – it doesn’t lend itself to that very well at all,” she said.

They are seeing about 80% of clients in person and will continue to provide a virtual option until all clients feel comfortable coming back in, she said. They have locations in Crystal Lake and Huntley.

Most of New Hope’s clients were eager to come back for a number of reasons.

“The privacy thing is an issue with tele-health because everyone is home or they were, you know, not so much now,” Johnson said. “Clients would have to find some place to go where nobody was eavesdropping on their session. When they’re coming into our office, obviously that is more private.”

She has talked to clients who were in their cars, out for walks and even some who hid in closets.

Another thing that made virtual mental health care uncomfortable for patients and providers was spotty internet service, Johnson said.

“We’re just starting to get into something deeper, talking about something really heavy, and then the video would cut out or we lose connection,” she said. “It was unproductive and just really frustrating at times.”

The biggest reason Johnson and her team are glad to do away with their pandemic innovations is that in-person sessions allow them to use facial expressions, body language and even quiet breaths or sighs to understand and connect with their patients on a deeper level, she said.

Paying more attention to the mental health and resiliency of staff and patients is another pandemic change that Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital will keep, Schmit said.

“Research does show that, unfortunately, we put our needs before others as nurses,” she said. “I liken it to the oxygen masks coming out of an airplane, right? The stewardess says to you, ‘Put the mask on yourself first,’ because if you don’t put your own mask on, you’re not gonna be able to take care of the person next to you.”

The stress of the pandemic elevated the concept of providing safety nets for hospital staff from a good idea to a necessary one, Schmit said. In response, Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital created an indoor “wellness path” that gives staff a minimum 10-minute break from what they are doing to walk and read motivational sayings along the way.

The path will become a permanent fixture and the hospital is securing funding to create an outdoor equivalent, as well, she said.

Local hospitals also developed and strengthened new treatments in response to the pandemic that will help to save lives moving forward, such as “proning,” the practice of turning patients onto their abdomens so they’re lying face down to improve oxygenation, a spokesperson for Advocate Aurora Health said in a written statement.

The drive-thru testing model first used for COVID-19 may also be used in the future to accommodate high-volumes of testing at once, Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital Chief Nursing Officer Mary Roesch said.