COVID-19 Update Message from the President and CEO

Over the past several months, our Bayhealth employees and medical staff physicians, in conjunction with our community first responders, have been working extra hard around the clock to keep our community safe from the COVID-19 virus.

Bayhealth has activated strategies to reduce social exposures and has established and expanded phone triage screening and drive-thru testing programs. At the same time, we have also activated our Incident Command Center to manage our work today, including workforce, equipment and supplies planning needs. Additionally, we are modeling what will be needed as the number of cases requiring hospitalization grows. We are working closely with, and thank immensely, the governor, the Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH) and the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) teams that play the critical role of coordinating federal, state and local efforts. We are also coordinating with all Delaware health systems through the Delaware Healthcare Association (DHA).

Bayhealth is also guided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and is fortunate to have a great team of infection prevention nurses and physicians who are overseeing our clinical and operational decisions to protect the community’s health.

We take great pride in the fact that we have been here for you and your family members during times of need. Now we are asking you to be our hero. You can do this by staying home, practicing social distancing, washing your hands, avoiding large gatherings, and following guidelines issued by the state and federal authorities.

Our physicians, nurses and employees have the same fears that you do. They worry about their children who are home from school, about their parents who may not be able to care for themselves, about their friends who are cooped up at home, and about you! We are tremendously thankful to all our employees and physicians who put the needs of others before their own, and care for the community no matter the crisis.

There will be challenging days ahead. But we will get through them together if we all do our part. That’s why we’re encouraging you to take the steps outlined above and be a hero in our community.

Terry M. Murphy, FACHE
President & CEO, Bayhealth