Kayla Schneeweiss-Keene, the administrator of Humble, Texas-based Mann Cataract Surgery Center, spoke with Becker's ASC Review about how her center dealt with storm damage amid the pandemic.
Editor's note: This response was edited lightly for clarity and brevity.
Question: What are your center's biggest accomplishments in the past year?
Kayla Schneeweiss-Keene: Our center's biggest accomplishment in the past year, I believe, is working through adversity as a team. As with everyone, COVID-19 has been a challenge with staff either being sick or exposed, having an unusually high amount of staff turnover — leaving the center short-staffed for most of the year — and with patients hesitant to have surgery. This alone can be discouraging for anyone.
Additionally, we had a main fire water line burst during a winter storm at one center, leading to elevators being inoperable for the practice. Thankfully, there was little damage to the surgery center. Another of our centers throughout the year had either the elevator or HVAC unit go down several times and a complete replacement of their backup generator — of which, none of them are quick fixes. The core team stayed strong through it all, pulled together when short-staffed and helped each other out.
Two directors of nursing at each location have been a big help throughout the process and continue to fight to keep morale up among the staff. The practice as a whole, including our surgery centers, has done a great job at adapting to the needed changes during COVID-19 and increased our numbers by marketing to the public to show what measures we have taken to take great care of our patients and perform safe surgery in our ASC.