UC Health Leads the Way in State, Local COVID Response
In early March, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine turned to Ohio’s top medical and scientific leaders to advise him on the state’s response to the emerging crisis of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
Among the advisory board members convened by the governor was UC Health President & CEO Richard P. Lofgren, MD, the leader of Greater Cincinnati’s adult academic healthcare system and chair-elect of the Ohio Hospital Association board of trustees.
Gov. DeWine also asked Dr. Lofgren and UC Health to lead hospital preparedness and response to the COVID-19 pandemic in “Zone 3,” which comprises 16 counties across southwest Ohio.
In this role, Dr. Lofgren has helped convene the region’s healthcare leaders to confront a shared enemy — COVID-19.
When the pandemic hit, all of the health systems in our community got together and said that we’re no longer competitors. We’re collaborators with a common enemy and shared goal,... Through our partnership with the Greater Cincinnati Health Collaborative, leaders representing each health care system meet on a daily basis to respond to real-time data and plan a collaborative, coordinated approach.
“We galvanized around three basic principles: First, that we would keep our workforce safe at all times; second, that everybody in the Greater Cincinnati area would have access to high quality care; and third, that we would function with transparency in terms of data, learning and resourcing,” Lofgren told Cincy Magazine this summer.
Dr. Lofgren has also advised Cincinnati’s top business leaders on how to safety reopen the local economy as a member of the RESTART Task Force convened by the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, the Cincinnati Business Committee and the Cincinnati Regional Business Committee.
UC Health leaders also provide their expertise to other regional response efforts such as COVID-19 testing and vaccine distribution planning.