Evangelical Community Hospital Marks One-Year of Pandemic Status

Saturday, March 13, 2021, marks the one-year anniversary of Evangelical Community Hospital activating its Hospital emergency command structure and declaring a pandemic.

“While this isn’t an anniversary we are celebrating in the traditional sense, it does present an opportunity to reflect on the what we’ve been through and thank our providers, employees and community for their commitment to and support of this Hospital,” said Kendra Aucker, President and CEO, Evangelical Community Hospital.

To commemorate the impact of COVID-19 on families locally, nationally, and around the globe over the last 12 months, Evangelical employees were asked to pause non-essential tasks and observe a shared moment of silence Friday, March 12.

From March 2020 to March 2021, Evangelical has:

• Set up two COVID-19 testing sites where more than 36,000 COVID-19 tests have been administered;
• Cared for nearly 800 COVID-19-positive patients;
• Successfully discharged more than 700 COVID-19 patients;
• And, administered more than 10,000 doses of vaccine.

Sadly, 87 people lost their battles with this disease while in the Hospital’s care. Those individuals were remembered during the anniversary period with flameless candles in the main concourse of the Hospital’s new addition.

But the anniversary isn’t entirely somber in tone.

To support its dedicated providers and employees, the Hospital is distributing free self-care items over the next week, collecting images and stories of those who went above and beyond the call of duty, giving special gifts, offering discounts at the gift shop, and providing free slushies.

“This last year we’ve been through some of the darkest moments I can ever recall in my decades of healthcare work; but, through it all, I’ve been buoyed by the moments of compassion, kindness, and resiliency I’ve witnessed across this organization,” said Aucker. “We needed to find ways to honor those moments while being respectful of the magnitude of this anniversary.”  

PHOTOS: Hospital staff across the organization stopped what they were doing at 11:15 am and 7:15 pm on Friday, March 12, 2021, to listen to 12 bells toll—one for each month of the pandemic.