Finding Health & Wellness During a Pandemic

It’s hard to believe, but CRNA Week in Pennsylvania this year is starting to look and feel a lot like CRNA Week last year.

We may not be locked down in 2022 like we were in 2021, but hospitals and health-care facilities once again are facing critical staffing shortages, with some areas setting COVID-19 case records.

Clearly, the pandemic is not finished. The dizzying speed of omicron’s spread has left everyone scratching their heads and questioning what they know about COVID-19.

Through it all, certified registered nurse anesthetists have remained on the frontline, putting their advanced education and training to work to care for critically ill patients.

This year, CRNA Week in Pennsylvania is a tribute to every nurse anesthetist who courageously has stepped forward to serve during this pandemic and who works daily to save lives and provide the best possible care in a variety of settings.

Thank you for all you do to serve our profession so honorably and your patients so faithfully.

All of us are under enormous pressure. To be the most effective we can be, however, we need to ensure we take care of ourselves, so we are able to care for others.

One of my top priorities as PANA president is promoting health and wellness.

Health and wellness have always been important in our profession, but they take on a new meaning during this prolonged pandemic, as health-care providers, including CRNAs and SRNAs, confront a disproportionate share of physical and emotional strain.

Self-care in the workplace and at home is essential. Health and wellness issues span a wide spectrum --- from finding ways to reduce risks and limit stress on the job to making positive choices and managing lifestyles to improve health and fitness.

We are best for others when we are at our own personal best.

PANA values the importance of pillars, which is why you will see more health and wellness activities incorporated into regular meeting, lectures, and spring and fall meetings. Now more than ever, we need to support each other.

I hope CRNA Week in Pennsylvania offers you a time to reflect and celebrate the work we do.

Please share your stories with PANA and your peers, and tag #CRNAinPA on Facebook and Twitter so we can add them to our collections. While you’re at it, visit our new Instagram page, @PANACRNA, which launched this week. Tag us here, too, and show us what you’re doing.

Thank you for stepping forward to serve during this pandemic, for proving yourselves as battle-tested providers on the frontlines at home and in combat, and for fighting to ensure access to safe, cost-effective anesthesia care each and every day.

Lew Bennett, DNP, CRNA

President

Pennsylvania Association of Nurse Anesthetists

The Daily Item: Geisinger anesthetist chosen for National Disaster Medical System team

By Eric Scicchitano | escicchitano@dailyitem.com

December 19, 2021

Christopher Heiss, an anesthetist with Geisinger, has been chosen to join the National Disaster Medical System’s Trauma and Critical Care Team. He’ll be sworn in this January. Christopher Heiss, an anesthetist with Geisinger, has been chosen to join the National Disaster Medical System’s Trauma and Critical Care Team. He’ll be sworn in this January. 📷: courtesy of Geisinger

Christopher Heiss, an anesthetist with Geisinger, long desired to serve the U.S. in a uniformed capacity but his career in medicine ultimately kept him from joining the military.

However, Heiss, 32, of Bloomsburg, eyed serving with a distinguished federal medical unit and after several tries, has been chosen to join the National Disaster Medical System’s Trauma and Critical Care Team. He’ll be sworn in this January.

“For me, it’s me playing a part that I grew up around,” Heiss said, referring to relatives who served the armed forces. “It just so happens the service I would provide is very unique to the skill set that I have. Everything I’ve learned throughout my career, it’s all right there.”

Heiss’s career began as an emergency medical technician. He then studied to become a paramedic and later worked as a flight paramedic in Western Pennsylvania. In time, he earned a degree as a registered nurse. He served as an intensive care unit nurse at Geisinger before becoming a certified registered nurse anesthetist in 2019.

In 2020, Heiss, a husband and father of one, helped develop an intubation shield deployed throughout Geisinger’s system to help protect frontline workers from contracting COVID-19.

Over the years, Heiss said he tried to catch the attention of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), which is operated through the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. About 80 health care professionals belong to the NDMS Trauma and Critical Care Team (TCCT). The size and credentials necessary make it a difficult job to obtain.

Members of the National Disaster Medical System are deployed to national and international emergencies like natural disasters, public health emergencies and terrorist attacks. They lead or supplement medical care and other emergency services when resources are stressed or compromised.

Along with TCCTs, NDMS consists of Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT) — several of which recently deployed following deadly tornadoes in Kentucky and elsewhere in the Midwest — along with Disaster Mortuary Operations Response Teams, Victim Information Center Teams and National Veterinary Response Teams.

TCCT team members include physicians in critical care and emergency medicine, surgeons, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, nurse anesthetists, paramedics, respiratory therapists, radiology technologists, surgical technologists and pharmacists.

“The first-in people who could care for critically ill and injured people,” as Heiss described them.

“We are strictly a federal asset. We serve the president, the vice president and any associated diplomats,” Heiss said, noting that despite being federal assets, they work with state and local professionals.

Teams range from 9 to 48 members each. They’re tasked to conduct specific trauma-related tasks at field hospitals and established facilities such as providing critical care, surgery, advanced trauma life support and much more.

Heiss once felt like he’d never join the TCCT. In February 2020, he and two other Geisinger professionals published a scholarly article in the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology Journal. It caught the attention of a TCCT member who reached out to Heiss. In time, doubts washed away as Heiss was invited to join.

“Geisinger is committed to supporting all our employees while volunteering in the Uniformed Services. We’re proud that our benefits make it easy for employees to serve both our community and nation,” said Chris Grill, program manager for military and veteran affairs for Geisinger.

There are eight CRNA’s on the TCCT and, Heiss believes, just two in Pennsylvania. He’ll remain employed with Geisinger and leaves for up to two weeks at a time when assigned a deployment.

Heiss said his diverse career portfolio prepared him for this. He’s worked in the streets and in hospital settings, handling sometimes uncontrolled and chaotic situations and remaining calm and on task. He said he feels prepared to join TCCT and thanked Geisinger for its support.

“It’s not really a matter of if but when some type of global event occurs and I need to leave suddenly,” Heiss said.

Pittsburgh Magazine Honors Hometown Heroes with 2021 Excellence in Nursing Awards

A Salute to Nurses By RACHEL WEAVER LABAR | Photos by LAURA PETRILLA

The pandemic has killed more than 700,000 Americans, a disproportionate number of whom were people of color or the underserved. This crisis has taken a heavy toll on the nursing community — especially those who served on the front lines, supporting patients and helping families communicate with their very ill loved ones.

But as harrowing as this has been, I’ve often felt inspired and hopeful.

Why? Because COVID-19 has shown the world the important role nurses play in health care — not because they have no fear but because they approach their work and care for patients despite their fear with the utmost compassion.

On behalf of the Pittsburgh community, I would like to extend our collective thanks, gratitude and appreciation to all of the nurses and nursing students who responded to those in need. Join me in congratulating the 2021 Excellence in Nursing Award recipients who are recognized in this issue. They have demonstrated extraordinary dedication and courage.

– Mary Ellen Glasgow Dean and Professor, Duquesne University School of Nursing; Chair, Pittsburgh Magazine Excellence in Nursing Selection Committee

View the nominees!

Excellence In Nursing – Pandemic Response Hero: Pauline Hutsler Excellence in Nursing – Leader: Maribeth McLaughlin Excellence In Nursing – Emerging Leader: Jeffrey Bomba Excellence In Nursing – Advanced Practitioner: Maj. William Pileggi Excellence In Nursing – Clinician: Shenoa Jamieson Excellence in Nursing – Community: Alexis Myers Excellence In Nursing – Academic: Ruth Madden Foreman Excellence In Nursing – Researcher: Alison Colbert

HONORABLE MENTION

Pandemic Response Hero

Mark Cashioli, Infusion Nurse, Chartwell Specialty Pharmacy Jonna L. Morris, Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing Judith A. Shovel, Improvement Specialist, Clinical Improvement Department, Wolff Center at UPMC

Leadership Krista Bragg, Chief Operating Officer, Allegheny Health Network Christin M. Durham, Associate Chief Nurse, Primary Care, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System Nancy Gross, RN Director, Butler Health System Geralyn Lee, Clinical Director, UPMC Home Healthcare

Emerging Leader Ashleigh Anderson, Senior Professional Staff Nurse, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Tammy Barker-Fleming, Unit Director Neuro/Trauma, UPMC Presbyterian Hospital Leanne Feil, ER Case Management Access Nurse, Butler Health System Amber Kolesar, Instructor and Director, Second-Degree BSN Program, Duquesne University School of Nursing Tara Stickley, Unit Director, Womancare Birth Center, UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital

Advanced Practitioner Erin Q. Dieter, Palliative Medicine, Excela Health Medical Group Joyce Knestrick, Associate Professor, George Washington University School of Nursing (Visiting Professor; Family Nurse Practitioner from Washington, Pa.) Charles Warner, Nurse Practitioner, Critical Care Medicine, UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital

Clinician Mandy Emmick, Registered Nurse/Case Manager, UPMC Home Healthcare Christopher Hornberger, Registered Nurse, 7T Telemetry, Butler Memorial Hospital Catherine “Caty” Thomas, Clinical Education Specialist, UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital

Community Mary Jo Bellush and Deborah Schotting, Infection Preventionists, Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital Elizabeth DiLembo, Project Manager, COVID Vaccine Clinic, Quality, Clinical Documentation Specialist, Excela Health

Academic Janet Barber, Standardized Patient Manager, Robert Morris University Richard Henker, Professor, Department of Nurse Anesthesia, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing Rebecca Kronk, Associate Professor, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Duquesne University

Researcher Susan W. Wesmiller, Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing