First shipment of COVID vaccines arrives in Great Falls
MTN
and last updated 2020-12-15 20:45:23-05
GREAT FALLS â Inside a relatively normal looking box, the first Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines arrived at Benefis Health System late Tuesday morning. Weâre still waiting to learn exactly how many doses were in the shipment, but Benefis officials told MTN on Tuesday that they believed they might be getting more than the original 975 doses they originally expected.
The shipment contained the allotted vaccines for Benefis and the Great Falls Clinic, which will remain at Benefis until the Clinic is ready to retrieve their share. Because Benefis has the ultra-cold storage required to store the vaccines (between -112 degrees and -76 degrees Fahrenheit) to keep the vaccines safe and ready to use, the two hospitals will be working together throughout this process.
10:21 AM
The American Telemedicine Association, the Connected Health Initiative and other industry groups issued a letter to Congress on Friday urging legislators to extend temporary telehealth flexibilities until the end of 2021.
The groups, which also include
Healthcare IT News parent company HIMSS, noted that the COVID-19 public health emergency has ushered in an unprecedented expansion to telehealth.
At the same time, however, providers and patients face continued uncertainty about the future of virtual care – made even more tenuous by legislators failure, thus far, to enact permanent changes to telemedicine policies. The continued risk of telehealth flexibilities ending with each subsequent 90-day renewal of the PHE adds additional uncertainty to an already strained health care delivery system. Patients and their health care professionals should not have to worry if they will be able to continue to receive or deliver necessary care, read the letter.
Adena taking aggressive, innovative steps to meet Coronavirus challenges newswatchman.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newswatchman.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Newsroom
Dec 10, 2020
Dire circumstances often require creative responses. That’s certainly been the case for Adena Health System in the midst of its largest COVID-19 patient surge since the pandemic began in the spring.
In addition to challenges created by recent rapid and marked increases in COVID positive patient volumes, mounting hospitalizations across the region also have virtually eliminated the possibility of being able to transfer patients to other health systems when Coronavirus surge numbers exceed Adena Regional Medical Center’s (ARMC) 30-bed COVID cohort unit’s capacity.
In order to continue providing the most comprehensive care, not only for its COVID-19 patients but those utilizing other medical services in the communities served by Adena, the Health System has turned to several new initiatives and solutions for meeting the challenges presented by COVID-19.