ST. PETE STRONG
61 May/June 2020 StPeteLifeMag.com
people working in St. Petersburg
have risen to the challenge to
be there for residents. Nowhere
is that more true than at St.
Anthony’s Hospital, located in the
heart of downtown.
“The teams from the emergency
center, respiratory and the ICU/
CVICU have been on the front
coronavirus began to come to
the hospital,” said St. Anthony’s
Hospital President Scott Smith.
Patient care teams have provided
comfort and compassion for these
special patients while working with
team members throughout the
hospital.
“Team members have crosstrained
to learn new skills. The
lab team went through training
to learn how to use the new rapid
COVID-19 testing equipment,”
Smith said. “Our food and
nutrition team instituted singleserving
containers throughout the
cafeteria and started selling hard-
members.”
Among the heroes of the
pandemic have been the St.
Anthony’s infection control and
the environmental services teams,
Smith said. The teams have
worked along with the hospital’s
patient care teams to provide
continuous quality care in the face
of COVID-19.
“The infection control program
throughout BayCare, and
provided the voice of reason
and expertise,” Smith said. “Our
environmental services team has
worked throughout the hospital to
keep patient rooms and common
areas sanitized. We are so proud of
our front-line healthcare providers
and we lift up our support teams
that have been doing some great
work to keep us moving forward.”
As infection control manager for
St. Anthony’s Hospital, it’s Cassie
Molina’s job to closely monitor any
infectious diseases that might be
increasing in the community. “Our
team keeps daily surveillance of
all reportable disease, including
COVID-19, while also rounding
in all units to provide education,
guidance and support throughout
the hospital,” Molina said. “We
keep a watchful eye on the
general environment and monitor
throughout our campus to make
sure we keep our patients and
team members safe.”
Molina says with COVID-19, there
process than with the average
demanded additional training
and support needs for our team
members. My team and I are on
call more often and have worked
late hours to maintain safety,”
she said. “We also have to report
any new cases that come to the
hospital each day to the local
health departments so that we all
can know where there might be
new spikes of the virus.”
St. Anthony’s is not alone in
providing a safe environment
for its patients, team members
and physicians. “We have been
led by BayCare which was one of
temperature screening at the
door, wearing of masks inside
all facilities, and went above
and beyond
to obtain
additional
hand hygiene
stations for all
entrances,”
Molina said.
Healthcare Heroes
St. Pete Strong
Daniel Malloway, an environmental services team
member at St. Anthony’s Hospital, sets up the Tru-D
SmartUVC in a patient room.
/StPeteLifeMag.com