Science, Health and Safety at Wesley Medical Center

Published on : 4/24/20
  • Supporting the FNS and EVS Teams During COVID-19

    The best healthcare is based on science and data, curating the best protocols to support treatment and promote health. When the novel coronavirus started spreading in 2019, there was no data. It was new. No one knew what to expect. Scientists and clinicians around the world had to rely on a general understanding of all coronaviruses and look to China to see how they treated COVID-positive patients.

    Protocols for when to intubate changed – it became the first course of action. Cleaning protocols for patient rooms changed – wait 1-2 hours before cleaning a COVID-positive patient room. Food service changed – PPE had to be worn to deliver meals to all patients.

    Sodexo’s management team at Wesley Medical Center took the time to educate our employees on how this virus was spreading, and what our Wesley-Sodexo team could do to prevent exposure and help reduce the cases of COVID in Kansas. Knowing that lives were on the line, the Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) team and the Environmental Services (EVS) team quickly pivoted their procedures.

    The hospital and Sodexo leadership jointly made the call to move to a Level 3 for the safety of staff, patients, and community. As a result, our teams have been working 24 hours a day creating isolation rooms for COVID-positive patients and adapting our menus and meal delivery to ensure the safety of hospital staff.

    Increasing safety measures meant adjusting our EVS, cafeteria, and patient nutrition procedures.

    • Staff safety when visiting the cafeteria was ensured by increasing production of our prepackaged food program Simply-to-Go which also provided faster, touch free check-out.
    • Level 3 heightened safety resulted in an increased workload for our EVS team to coordinate moving patient rooms and increased infection control.
    • The EVS staff adjusted employee scheduling to ensure thorough cleaning was done 24/7 – a change from pre-COVID protocols that reduced the amount of cleaning during the night shift when hospital activity is less.
    • The EVS staff also supported food services through tray recovery and sanitation.

    To support the physical and emotional wellbeing of patients, our Food & Nutrition Services (FNS) team adjusted processes.

    • They developed a plan to feed over 1,000 employees in a safe and socially distanced environment.
    • The food service ordering process has become even more focused on patient satisfaction, as ordering lunch is one of the few conversations patients would have while in isolation.
    • The Executive Chef created special meals for birthdays and special requests.

    Wesley Medical Center Administrator, Cathan Riding stated, "The past few weeks have been tough for everyone, and the coming weeks are likely to be more difficult, but I wanted to express my gratitude to the Sodexo leadership & teams for the work they are doing to help us get prepared."

    Thank you to our frontline staff who are engaged and offering to work extra hours to help Wesley Medical Center while they simultaneously continue efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 cases in Kansas and boost the morale of staff and patients.

    Learn more about Sodexo’s Environmental and Food & Nutrition Services.

    FNS and EVS Teams

    FNS and EVS Teams