Robert Inglis/The Daily Item Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Keara Klinepeter, left, talks with Evangelical Community Hospital CEO Kendra Aucker after a press conference on Tuesday at the hospital.
LEWISBURG — Challenges faced by rural hospitals in the age of COVID-19 were the subject of a visit to Evangelical Community Hospital by Keara Klinepeter, Pennsylvania’s acting secretary of health, on Tuesday.
“Evangelical is one of the most innovative hospitals that I’ve had the privilege of getting to visit with recently,” Klinepeter said. “I really admire not just the investment that they’ve made in the physical infrastructure which is extraordinary — this is a beautiful world-class building — but also in their people.”
Evangelical Community Hospital CEO Kendra Auker and her executive team met with Klinepeter to discuss the pandemic and the hospital’s response.
Klinepeter, hospital officials and state Rep. Lynda Schlegel Culver, R-108, Sunbury, also toured the facility which completed its PRIME expansion amid the pandemic
“The (tour) today was to talk about how things unfolded during COVID,” Aucker said. “It’s always a learning experience to hear someone else’s perspective on why things occurred. When you hit a crisis, you look to the state for certain things, they look to you for ways to improve communication. Are there services where we didn’t feel supported?
“The value of the meetings today to me was the chance to sit down with the secretary face-to-face.”
Dwindling workforce, what to do about it, and infrastructure also were among the key topics addressed by Klinepeter.
“We need to invest in our health care workforce, as well as our health care infrastructure,” she said.
Gov. Tom Wolf, she said, plans to use federal funds to help in recruiting health care workers.
“We’re in a phase right now talking to hospitals about what they want us to do,” Klinepeter said. “Oftentimes the best messenger in a community is a local messengers, like Kendra (and hospital staff) who can go out and speak to young folks and employ strategies that they think will work for the community.”
“The department’s role is to listen to what they think will work best and support them in any way we can,” she said.
Investments in health care infrastructure will allow for the building of world-class health facilities that can meet communities’ needs, Klinepeter said.
Those needs were tested in many places during the most infectious times of the pandemic.
Klinepeter said the department is making contingency plans for the possibility of another COVID surge.
The subvariant BA.2 is more transmissible than BA.1, she said, responding to whether there is concern about a possible COVID surge — as has been the case in other countries around the world.
“We also know BA.2 is less severe than BA.1,” she said. “We are not seeing the same level of hospitalization that we tragically saw with the BA.1 variant. From our perspective, we continue to look at hospitalizations, and right now we are not seeing a surge in hospitalizations or deaths.”
If you don’t feel good, get tested, use a mask, she said, echoing CDC guidelines. “Seek clinical care when necessary,” she said.
Klinepeter addressed recent reports that people with diabetes are at higher risk of severe illness if they contract COVID. “That is why we urge those people to stay up to date with their vaccines. If there are concerns, by all means, wear a mask. “
Right now there is a recommendation for individuals to receive an additional booster shot if they are over 50 years old or if they are at high risk for severe illness.
“Talk to your health care provider to get the right information,” she said.
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