Cynthia O’Connell, RES ‘07
I am the Associate Director/Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the West Palm Beach Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center, in South Florida. We have transformed our hospital to care for the expected surge. In mid-March, we erected and deployed all of our emergency bed expansion assets (tents/trailers), as well as provided a Triage tent outside of our Emergency Department (ED). Simultaneously, one half of my ED that had been under construction was emergently accelerated to bring it back into clinical operation in one week! We closed our Community Living Centers to visitors to protect our long- term care resident veterans from any infection. Additionally, my talented facility engineering teams have totally designed, retro-fitted, and converted two whole patient care floors to negative pressure isolation rooms in less than two weeks — a herculean effort – totaling 107 new negative pressure isolation beds – probably the most negative pressure capacity in all of Florida! And we are currently expanding both acute care and Intensive Care capability; we transformed additional ward space adding 26 more beds to double our ICU capacity from 12 to 24 beds, and an additional 26 beds for acute care surge capacity. Our clinical, nursing, and administrative teams are working long hours to ensure all of our patients get the highest quality care, and we prepare for our 4th VA mission of likely support to our local community — our partner healthcare systems and long term care facilities in the local area and across our region. Our Logistics and Environmental teams keep the supply chain moving so we get what we need, and keep our hospital clean and sanitized. And, many of our staff have already been called up to serve in either Reserve, National Guard, or the Disaster Emergency Medical Personnel System (DEMPS) missions to support COVID hotspots across the Nation. There are so many operations going on, all focused on the continuing mission to care for our patients, and to keep our staff safe. I was an Army Medical Service Corps officer during my 35-year military career, and I was honored to have served to support our nation through military healthcare. Now, I am honored and humbled to continue this same mission with the VA, caring for my brothers and sisters whom we’ve served shoulder to shoulder with from World War II to the present. I can’t think of a better mission right now…
BG (Ret) Cynthia A. O’Connell, FACHE
Resident Class of 2007
