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By Jane Hirsch, District Board Chair and Kelly Mather, Hospital CEO
On behalf of the Sonoma Valley Health Care District Board of Directors and Hospital leadership, we want to express our deepest sympathies to those who suffered such unimaginable losses this past week. The devastation that has occurred in our beautiful part of the country is hard to believe.
As we often see, these tragedies bring out the best in our community. From the swift and smooth coordination of the Emergency Shelter at Sonoma Valley High School to the many people who showed up to volunteer and donate countless hours of time, as well as food, cots, clothing and bedding, so many pitched in.
Our gratitude and admiration goes out to all who have helped so many in unfortunate circumstances. We especially want to acknowledge the first responders, especially the police and firefighters, who have worked so tirelessly for our community. They did an outstanding job protecting the city of Sonoma from fire.
We also note, with pride, the excellent response from staff and physicians at Sonoma Valley Hospital who worked tirelessly to keep the hospital in a state of readiness to serve our community. An Incident Response Center was set up immediately on Sunday night, and leaders have taken turns serving as Incident Commander, staying in close touch with our EOC.
The safety of patients was a priority and the staff prepared for evacuation of the hospital. Fortunately, this was not necessary. The hospital has remained open during the entire emergency and provided care not only to our patients, but provided resources to the evacuation sites and community centers.
Despite personal uncertainties and concerns regarding homes, families and friends, all staff have worked long hours to ensure the safety and comfort for our patients. Many staff were evacuated, but still came in to work.
Air quality was a concern, and hospital engineering provided continuous monitoring within the hospital to ensure that it remained within acceptable and safe levels.
The dedication and commitment of our hospital staff is admirable, and demonstrates why we can be confident in SVH’s ability to perform with professionalism and appropriate management in a disaster situation.
I know that we all recognize the degree to which our communities have been impacted, but again, we’re awed by the concern community members showed for each other and the volunteer spirit that we’ve experienced.
Let’s keep up the good work.
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