Several members of the BCU leadership team received invitations to be a part of the National Ebola Training and Education Center’s (NETEC) site visits this spring. Lauren Sauer, director of research for the BCU, visited Nebraska in March. Mallory flew down to Atlanta to take part in Emory’s site visit. Brian Garibaldi had the opportunity to head back to his home state of New York to be a part of the Bellevue Hospital’s site visit. We were all able to provide feedback on both the strengths and weaknesses of each hospital’s biocontainment unit and protocols and we look forward to more site visits in the future. In addition to the site visits, Noreen Hynes, one of the BCU providers and director of the Johns Hopkins Geographic Medicine Center, also attended the NETEC Ebola & Special Pathogens Preparedness Simulation Training in early June, hosted by Bellevue. Through all of these NETEC engagements, the BCU team has been able to gather tips for how to improve Johns Hopkins Biocontainment unit policies and protocols and adapt to the changing landscape of containment care.
Administrative manager Jordan Hughes has graduated from her master’s program at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and has accepted a job in New York City at Mount Sinai Hospital. She was a core member of the leadership team who was responsible for managing the BCU’s finances, coordinating and facilitating trainings and managing our partnerships with external organizations. We are sad to see her go, but we wish her the best in her new position.
Christopher Sulmonte will be taking over for Jordan starting June 26. Like Jordan, Chris will be completing his last year of the Masters of Health Administration program while participating in the yearlong administrative residency in the Department of Medicine. A warm welcome to Chris!
The BCU leadership and several integral staff members are looking forward to the annual NETEC summit to be held in Atlanta Georgia on June 26-27. Mallory and Lauren will get the chance to update the 8 other regions on our progress this past year. There will be plenty of opportunities for us to network with other regional hospitals and break out into smaller group discussions. We look forward to continuing to build our relationships with NETEC and the regional hospitals.
-Mallory Reimers, Nurse Educator
