Mission Hospital team recognized for its work with COVID-19 patients

By Jennifer Emert

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — There’s a treatment that gives the sickest COVID-19 patients a better chance at survival, and a mountain medical team has been honored for its use of the procedure. “I’m so proud of the team and the work that that they’ve done. This is an accomplishment, to the accomplishment that recognizes the team, not only the care at the bedside, but also all the additional work they put in to keep patients from not getting that sick in the first place,” Mission Hospital ECMO director Dr. Jesse Madden said.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation has been used by hospitals for decades. News 13 got an exclusive look at how Mission Hospital is using its five machines to treat severe COVID-19 patients. So far, 32 patients have received the procedure since 2020. Patients can be on the machine three days to a month or more, depending on the severity of their illness. The machine takes over temporarily for the lungs and heart, circulating blood outside the body.

Mission’s ECLS Specialist team recently received the ELSO Gold Level award. It’s one of two centers in the entire HCA system to be honored as a Center of Excellence.

What is ELSO?

The Extracorporeal Life Support Organization is an international nonprofit consortium of health care centers and individuals who are dedicated to the development, evaluation and improvement of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and other innovative therapies for support of failing organ systems in the neonate, child and adult.

ELSO is made up of a broad multidisciplinary collaboration of physicians, nurses, perfusionists, respiratory therapists, technicians, researchers and industry experts. Global chapters of ELSO provide education and expertise in ECMO delivery around the world.

What are the criteria for earning Gold Level?

A Center of Excellence Gold program has demonstrated extraordinary achievement in the following three categories:

Excellence in promoting the mission, activities and vision of ELSO; Excellence in patient care by using the highest quality measures, processes and structures based upon evidence; and Excellence in training, education, collaboration and communication supporting ELSO guidelines that contributes to a healing environment for families, patients and staff. Mission Health System has the only ECMO program in the 18 western counties of North Carolina and serves all 18 counties.

“Mission Hospital was grateful the ECLS program was well established and equipped to handle patients during the pandemic. The ECMO machine is a critical component of the ECMO program, but just as important as the machines are the excellent clinical staff trained to care for these patients who are the sickest in the hospital. The patient outcome data aligns with COVID-19 outcomes worldwide (as noted in the ELSO registry) and promotes the great clinical care the team provides to this community,” a statement for Mission Hospital said.

We take patients with a less than 5% chance of survival and give them a 50-50 shot of making it out of the hospital with a good quality of life. ECMO gives a real fighting chance of survival to patients who would otherwise die. Ultimately ECMO offers patients and their families hope.” – Mission Hospital Mission Hospital’s ECLS team is a multidisciplinary approach. All have extensive training to care for these critically ill patients. Mission Hospital has 19 ECLS specialists, all Cardiovascular Intensive Care RNs.

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