Northside Hospital CEO discusses accolades, elective surgeries

The St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce presents: Coronavirus Impact Insights. Click the play arrow above to watch the full video.

On this episode, Valerie Powell-Stafford, CEO of Northside Hospital joins Chris Steinocher, CEO of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Joe Hamilton, publisher of the St. Pete Catalyst to talk about Northside’s recent accolades and reopening elective surgeries.

Northside Hospital, a 288-bed hospital in north St. Petersburg (6000 49th St N), specializes in cardiac care and comprehensive stroke care, as well as orthopedics and general surgery.

According to Powell-Stafford, Northside has resumed elective surgeries, which were shuttered by order of Governor Ron DeSantis due to Covid-19. Now that the order has expired, Powell-Stafford says the hospital has enough capacity and a strong supply chain of personal protective equipment (PPE) to allow for elective surgeries again.

Resuming elective surgeries does not mean that the hospital is not taking Covid-19 seriously. The hospital is practicing CDC guidelines as usual, with good hand hygiene and social distancing top of mind. The hospital also provides Covid-19 tests to all pre-op patients, prior to surgery. These tests are done 72 hours in advance to ensure that results are returned prior to surgery.

Powell-Stafford says any patients who are Covid-19 positive are cohorted into a separate part of the hospital. Every visitor, caregiver or hospital worker is temperature checked and screened for symptoms, and high touch areas like elevators and vending machines are cleaned every two hours.

Thanks to their HCA affiliation, as well as city and county donations, Powell-Stafford says, Northside has had no trouble accessing enough PPE throughout the pandemic.

On the St. Pete Way reopening plan, Powell-Stafford says St. Pete is headed in the right direction. With a comprehensive, collaborative approach, which includes universal masking, everyone will be protected.

Steinocher says that while the state and county order to not require face masks during closer face-to-face contacts, he’s asking his Chamber board to lead by example and wear a mask to show that they care.

Finally, Powell-Stafford shares some recent accolades from the Tampa Bay Times and Leapfrog Hospital Safety Ratings.