A Message from the Outgoing COTS President, Tom Allenstein
As I wrap up my term as board president for COTS, I am honored to have served this great organization in that capacity for the last 5 years. During that time, I am reminded of all the great things this team and all the people associated with COTS have been able to accomplish. I will not be able to mention all the work that has gone on but I do want to hit some of the major highlights.
The biggest accomplishment was that COTS led us though a global pandemic.
Holding regular daily meetings to help manage the bed issues occurring at the hospitals within our region.
Assisting our 36 county zone's hospitals by moving patients where necessary, sometimes from one community hospital to another one.
Making sure necessary supplies were available as needed including ventilators and other lifesaving equipment.
Helping to coordinate the setup and potential implementation of 1000 beds at the Greater Columbus Convention Center should we have needed them. Thankfully we never needed to open any of those beds but through the planning and work that was done, I am confident that even today if we needed it, we could have that facility stood up within just a few days.
In addition to the work that occurred during the COVID 19 pandemic and after, the staff at COTS still focused on the day-to-day bed issues in Central, Southeast, and Southeast Central Ohio. With the cooperation of all the health systems, we have one of the most robust online ED busyness software platforms so that our EMS agencies in Franklin and surrounding counties know where to take patients so no one emergency department (ED) is overloaded. This patient safety initiative helps improve patient outcomes by reducing delays in patient care due to overcrowding of the EDs. COTS has been and continues to be the conduit by which all the health systems participate in this ED busyness collaboration.
One final area that I want to mention is the HIL (Healthcare Incident Liaison). We are so fortunate to have this in our area. The HIL was activated and helped guide us through many difficult emergency responses including but not limited to the downtown protests, the 2024 tornadoes, the Licking County school bus crash, and the solar eclipse. These are but a very small portion of the activations. Because of the HIL, I can tell you that these situations were handled so much better and more effectively than if we didn’t have this resource.
There is so much that goes on behind the scenes at COTS that I just don’t have enough paper to list it all. Just know that I, for one, am so glad we have this organization and the COTS team. Central, Southeast, and Southeast Central Ohio are a much better and safer place because of this organization and the work they do. I am so proud of my time as a board chair, and I look forward to seeing Dr. Erik Sribnick take over and continue to support the great work that COTS does.