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The below email from Craig Kent, MD, Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, is part of an ongoing series to our friends and neighbors in the local area highlighting UVA Health's COVID response and how our organization is poised to serve our patients and the community. To sign up for the UVA Health Community Update, subscribe here.

Dear friends and neighbors, 

As we head into summer, there are increasing signs that we are on the road to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Here at UVA Health, hospitalizations have fallen to their lowest point in many months. As a result, we have fewer than 20 COVID inpatients daily, with our total potential hospital census being around 700. This steady decline in the daily patient population with the virus has allowed us to downsize our COVID-19 unit, returning space and staffing resources to other areas of need. Fortunately, this has also allowed us to ease restrictions on the number of visitors allowed to see inpatients at UVA.

Charlottesville City and Albemarle County are among the safest localities in both the state of Virginia and the country related to our vaccination rate. Nearly two-thirds of the combined adult population is fully vaccinated. UVA Health helped this cause greatly by distributing to date almost 120,000 doses. This is welcome news, but the pandemic is not yet over. We are still admitting new cases, some quite serious, and COVID-19 is still being transmitted in our community. Many of these cases would be preventable through vaccination.

Now that vaccines are available for children ages 12 and older, and UVA Health has made it easy to book online appointments and attend walk-up clinics, we are shifting our focus to reaching out and educating the vaccine-hesitant. That work includes offering vaccines to those who come through our Emergency Department, hosting pop-up clinics in underserved neighborhoods, and working with local volunteer groups to bring vaccines to those with mobility issues. Our nationally recognized infectious diseases experts also continue to spread the word about vaccine safety and efficacy. For example, Dr. Debbie-Ann Shirley recently answered questions adolescents have about vaccines; Dr. Costi Sifri explained to CNN why a mild outbreak of cases among vaccinated pro baseball players demonstrates how well the vaccines work in preventing serious infections; and Dr. Taison Bell talked to the CBS News about the recent Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause.

I'm proud of the way our experts at UVA Health have guided us through the pandemic, ensuring we are responsive to our community's needs by providing health education as well as exceptional patient care. As we emerge from the pandemic, this patient-centric approach will only further define UVA Health and how our community is at the core of what we do.

Take, for example, our outstanding Pregnancy & Birth team at UVA Health, whose maternity wards, even amid the pandemic, are busier than they've ever been. This team provides exceptional care for every mother and baby, from routine- to high-risk antepartum births. As a result, not only do we have the region's most advanced Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), but we also are the only hospital in our area with a Baby-Friendly designation, certifying that we provide comprehensive care for breastfeeding, maternity, and infant services. That also means our team members are trained to support breastfeeding mothers, and our lactation consultants provide comprehensive care throughout the prenatal to postpartum process. In addition, our Breastfeeding Medicine Clinic, the only one of its kind in the area, assists mothers with any ongoing breastfeeding issues after leaving the hospital.

But the real hallmark of our patient-centric care at UVA Health is our people. In that spirit, I encourage you to continue reading below to learn about one of our incredible maternity nurses who has gone above and beyond over the past year.

Wishing you and your loved ones health and happiness,

K. Craig Kent, MD
Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, University of Virginia
Chief Executive Officer, UVA Health

Meet Our Team: Azra Faisant

We have so many incredible nurses at UVA Health, including Azra Faisant, a 2021 UVA graduate of the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) program and a full-time registered nurse in our Labor & Delivery Unit. Azra has been on the frontlines caring for patients during the pandemic while also continuing her studies and working as a preceptor for another CNL student. Her scholarly project on reducing needlestick injuries earned the 2021 CNL Capstone Award from our School of Nursing. She is also a mother herself and gave birth to her second child earlier this year. Thank you, Azra, for all that you do for your patients!