CentraCare Changes COVID Command Structure

(KNSI) – CentraCare Health says central Minnesota has entered a new phase of the pandemic and no longer needs one or two people calling the shots. Former Incident Commander for CentraCare’s COVID-19 response Dr. George Morris says he was appointed to the role in January of 2020 as medical professionals prepared for the coronavirus.

“Incident Command was our approach to managing a new pandemic that was overwhelming our community and our system.”

He became the Lead COVID 19 Physician on April 1st. Dr. Morris says getting rid of the incident commander’s duties brings more people to the table.

“Incident commander implies a lot of if we need to, I’m going to make final decisions. As a lead physician, this is where we’re going. This is the direction we’re going. But we’re going to lead together, as opposed to tell you what to do.”

He says the change in his title represents the healthcare provider moving into a new phase of treatment.

“As an organization, now we have the skills, the knowledge, the people in the right roles, where we’re just going to do this. So we don’t need the formal structure of an incident command. This now becomes how we do business.”

Last week, Dr. Morris said around ten people were getting treated at CentraCare facilities. In the last two weeks, more cases of COVID have been reported in New York in Washington D.C., caused by a new subvariant of the omicron virus called BA2. Officials say the virus appears to be less severe compared to earlier surges of COVID.

Before the change in the command structure, Dr. Morris and CentraCare CEO and President Ken Holmen coordinated the hospital systems response.

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