Doctors Hospital of Augusta, Ga. ICU nurse and graduate of HealthTrust Workforce Solutions' StaRN program, Ashton Crocker provides a detailed, personal and unfiltered glimspe into the hard fight against COVID-19. As shared by Ashton Crocker, "Witnessing families lose their loved ones is one of the hardest parts of nursing. I'm a words person, and in these moments there are never enough adequate words. It is hard." Ashton Crocker's story serves as a powerful reminder for all of us to do our part to help slow the spread of the coronavirus by wearing a face covering, practicing safe social distancing and avoiding large crowds. 

You can read the full story in the HCA Healthcare Magazine

Victoria Gray is the first person in the U.S. with sickle cell disease to be treated with the revolutionary gene-editing technique called CRISPR. As the one-year anniversary of her landmark treatment approaches, it appears that the billions of genetically modified cells doctors infused into her body are alleviating virtually all the complications of her disorder. "It's wonderful. It's the change I've been waiting on my whole life," Victoria says about the treatment she's received at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute, an HCA Healthcare-affiliated facility located in Nashville, Tenn.

Gray is incredibly thankful for the staff's diligent work and the continuous improvement that is being made to finding a cure. Learn more about her story on NPR.

Pamela Myers spent six weeks in a coma at Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center, an HCA Healthcare-affiliated facility, in Panama City, Fla. after what she thought was an asthma attack turned out to be a COVID-19 diagnosis. As Pamela woke up unable to take care of herself, she was thankful to have a strong community of peers and healthcare heroes by her side and now strongly urges others to take precautions against COVID-19.

Pamela says she is beyond grateful for the care she received from doctors and nurses throughout the experience. Watch her story on ABC 13 Panama City

Maggie Sillero is a caring mother who was shocked to hear the news that she was having triplets. Due to the high-risk nature of her pregnancy, she was admitted to The Woman's Hospital of Texas in Houston, an HCA-Healthcare affiliated facility. However, Maggie was even more concerned to learn that she had tested positive for COVID-19, despite not leaving her house since March. Understanding the risk that COVID-19 presented to both Maggie and her future babies, the healthcare heroes at The Woman's Hospital of Texas in Houston took extra precautions to make sure both Maggie
and the babies were being well taken care of. 

Maggie Sillero’s incredible story has gone viral after giving premature birth to her three healthy and undeniably resilient triplets who continue to remain healthy. Watch her the amazing story on ABC’s World News Tonight and Good Morning America.

COVID cases are up across the nation and the need for quality patient care has never been greater. This is a critical time for many communities and for many of our hospitals. 

While 2020 will likely be associated with a global public health crisis, we’ll also be reminded of the many ways our HealthTrust Workforce Solutions and HCA Healthcare family banded together to take care of our communities and each other.

Thank you for being a part of HealthTrust Workforce Solutions and HCA Healthcare and for making a profound difference to those we serve.  You continue to rise up with resilience to meet the challenges brought on by this pandemic. Your unwavering commitment to our patients and your support for each other is inspirational and much appreciated.   On behalf of the entire HealthTrust Workforce Solutions leadership team, we thank you for continuing to provide quality, patient care on the frontlines in the fight against COVID. Together we can overcome this monumental challenge. 

Although COVID-19 has separated us, the virus has also caused us to stand firm and grow closer together. At the heart of what we do, we strive to take care of people, both patients and employees. In an effort to reduce the hardships produced by COVID-19, The Frist Foundation has donated $1 million to support colleagues affected by the COVID-19 to the HCA Healthcare Hope Fund.

The HCA Healthcare Hope Fund is a charity that assists HCA Healthcare employees and their immediate families who are affected by financial hardship, including our own HWS team members. The HCA Healthcare Hope Fund has provided over 700 HCA Healthcare employees within the last three weeks with financial assistance to reduce the financial loss caused by COVID-19.

Click here to read more about The Frist Foundation's charitable donation and HCA's efforts to reduce the negative impact created by COVID-19.

Everyone can use a comforting friend or a word of encouragement during the pandemic. As these unprecedented times lead to increased loneliness and anxiety, the fight to overcome COVID-19 is better with a companion by your side. For healthcare workers at HCA Healthcare's Rose Medical Center, their companion just happens to be a one-year-old Labrador.

Wynn, the furry Labrador who is being trained by emergency physician Susan Ryan, is a known on-call friend within the hospital. When needed, Wynn provides comfort to staffers in a room that is prepared to decrease stress. However, before staffers are able to interact with Wynn, they must thoroughly wash their hands to help reduce any spread of COVID-19. 

Click here to read more about Wynn's impact within Rose Medical Center. 

Our parent company, HCA Healthcare is teaming up with Google Cloud and SADA to launch a data portal for the COVID-19 pandemic. The open data platform will help accelerate analysis and response by aggregating data on ICU bed and ventilator utilization, testing results, and total number of patient visits to America’s hospital systems. 

HCA Healthcare is proud to collaborate with Google Cloud on the announcement of the COVID-19 National Response Portal, an open data platform built and operated by SADA. Running on Google Cloud, the platform is intended to promote data-sharing about the COVID-19 pandemic and how it is spreading in an effort to help hospitals and communities prepare and respond.

“COVID-19 presents a unique and significant challenge to healthcare providers, and collaboration and coordination is more important than ever to help ensure the best possible response,” said Dr. Edmund Jackson, HCA Healthcare’s chief data officer. “While COVID-19 has driven us apart physically, we will respond to it by coming together digitally. We are proud to work alongside Google Cloud to create a platform to help address this urgent public health challenge.”

The COVID-19 National Response Portal is intended to enable healthcare providers across the country to safely share and display anonymous, aggregated metrics from hospital systems into a single platform to show a complete and real-time view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data can be submitted each day from hospital systems across the United States and will be focused on metrics such as:

• ICU bed supply and utilization;
• ventilator supply and utilization;
• total numbers of positive, negative, and pending COVID-19 test results;
• and total numbers of healthy patients who have been discharged.

The platform will also have the ability to leverage publicly available datasets, such as data on local shelter-in-place policies, and traffic or mobility patterns, to help shed light on how public behaviors and policies may impact the spread of COVID-19.

“Healthcare organizations need access to accurate and timely information around the country to plan for care and respond to COVID-19,” said Philip Moyer, Vice President, Industry Sales at Google Cloud. “We’re proud to team up with HCA Healthcare and SADA in the launch of this important new data resource for care providers on the front lines.”

“As healthcare providers, we are all battling the same crisis,” said Michael Wargo, vice president of emergency preparedness at HCA Healthcare. “However, we are being faced with COVID-19 at different times and levels of severity. By pooling our data into one cohesive platform, we can share best practices to better prepare communities across the country for this unprecedented pandemic.”

As a learning health system, HCA Healthcare uses data from approximately 35 million annual patient encounters to improve care through research and innovation. HCA Healthcare, which will provide statistical data from its 185 hospitals, structured in a manner to comply with HIPAA and other applicable restrictions, has invited groups representing approximately 4,000 hospitals across the country to join and share data on the platform.

HCA Healthcare, SADA and Google Cloud are in the process of sharing additional details and seeking to onboard other hospitals. The platform is expected to go live to the public next week.

Hospitals interested in learning more and submitting data should visit onboarding.nationalresponseportal.com.