A Thank You to Our Harrington Community - Ed Moore, President & CEO, Harrington HealthCare System

Friday, May 15, 2020

Ed Moore President and CEO, Harrington HealthCare System

Ed Moore

Despite the constant flow of news and information about the novel coronavirus and the worldwide pandemic it has spawned, it can still be challenging to describe the enormity and complexity of the situation before us. It requires that we all make personal decisions – sometimes at great sacrifice – to limit risk to the most vulnerable among us and avoid the collapse of our healthcare system.

In a career that spans over 40 years in healthcare, I have never experienced a time like this. Despite the fact that we are required to be physically distant from one another, I have never felt such a powerful spirit of unity and connectedness within our community.

As a community healthcare system, we have always had a special responsibility to our local residents. Because the healthcare environment is so challenging and ever-changing, we have had to make difficult decisions about where to focus our resources, sometimes reducing or closing services that we can no longer provide in a financially sustainable way. But we have always done so with an eye towards assuring our long-term ability to serve as a local and reliable critical healthcare provider.

It was this dedication that drove our strategic decision to be acquired by the UMass Memorial Health Care System; assuring that we could maintain our position as a health care partner and safety net for our community. Little did we know that a completely different challenge would be before us in a matter of weeks.

The Harrington HealthCare team has always based our decisions, both large and small, on how we can continue to make our community healthier and safer. Today, we are seeing that commitment return to us in spades. Our departments work seamlessly to ensure compassionate quality care. That is why we have received our 14th “Grade A” in LeapFrog Group’s spring 2020 Hospital Report.

I couldn’t be more proud of the way every single member of our team – from front line clinicians to support staff – has pulled together to plan for and face the coronavirus in our community. Everyone has contributed to assure that Harrington HealthCare facilities will continue to be safe accessible resources. Across all floors and units of our hospital campuses, in offices and satellite locations, we have been a resource for safe testing and have created protocols to limit the spread of infection while caring for our community. This is the power of local healthcare.

We are heartened by the outpouring of support we have received from our community. We have long known that all of our employees are “Harrington Heroes;” and we are so glad to know that you see it too. Not only do we greatly appreciate donations of food supplies, homemade masks, and other personal protective equipment (thank you!), we are also so encouraged and motivated that in a time of global challenge you are thinking of us. This knowledge is particularly meaningful as we celebrate our staff in observance of Hospital Week this week. We also had the opportunity to honor our Nurses during National Nurses Week the previous week. A special thank you to MAPFRE Insurance Group who went above and beyond to make our nurses and staff feel extra special by delivering dedicated treats, signs and snacks. It is truly remarkable to see the outpouring of support from our community.

We urge the public not to delay seeking care out of fear that they may contract the COVID-19 virus at a healthcare facility. Extensive infection control measures have always been in place at HHS and additional measures aimed specifically at preventing the spread of COVID-19 have also been in place since early March.

Our goal right now is to assure everyone that they can safely access care for all emergency, urgent and chronic care needs, and to remind them that they should also continue to receive routine care through in-office visits and Telehealth appointments where possible.

We at Harrington are doing our part to help you, and we thank you for doing your part to help us. We will get through these trying times. When we do, we will never forget that it was by working together; healthcare and community, that we beat this pandemic.