Coe alumna an emergency department physician on front lines of COVID-19
Sarah Hemming-Meyer ’05
Emergency department physician Sarah Hemming-Meyer ’05 is currently serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a member of East Central Iowa Acute Care, Hemming-Meyer works in the emergency department (ED) at UnityPoint Health - St. Luke’s Hospital.
No stranger to adrenaline, Hemming-Meyer has spent the last 17 years in various roles related to emergency medicine. She began her health care career as a patient care technician in the ED while pursuing a nursing degree at Coe. “It was convenient to walk across the street to work,” Hemming-Meyer said.
Hemming-Meyer worked as an ED nurse immediately following graduation and throughout medical school while pursuing her degree as a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. “I love the spontaneity of emergency medicine,” Hemming-Meyer said. “Every day is different — I get to treat patients from newborns through centenarians. I see everything from dermatological to cardiac to orthopedic issues.”
The role of health care workers changed drastically during the first quarter of 2020 and Hemming-Meyer’s position was no exception. Her emergency medicine group now collaborates on a daily basis with hospital administration, physicians and nurses to make sure they are prepared to care for Cedar Rapids and the surrounding community during the pandemic.
Hemming-Meyer participates in daily tele-meetings to discuss the latest testing policies, discuss how to handle patient volumes and learn how to manage patients. “We are constantly working together and brainstorming how to refine how we beat COVID-19,” Hemming-Meyer said. “One of our biggest challenges right now is knowing that we have a global pandemic that has created a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE).”
In response to the PPE shortage, Hemming-Meyer has been working with a team to come up with creative ways to work with reduced supplies and create new devices in St. Luke’s Health Technology Fabrication Lab. Her focus is on airway management and the intubation process. “We are working on a solution on how we can contain aerosolization of the virus as we treat the patients who are having difficulty breathing,” Hemming-Meyer said.
Risk of COVID-19 exposure for health care workers becomes elevated when using ventilation and intubation techniques on patients. Hemming-Meyer and her colleagues manufactured a hood to place over the patient when utilizing these measures becomes absolutely necessary. They also created a pre-oxygenation kit, a bag containing all necessary items to use during ventilation and intubation.
Hemming-Meyer is thankful for the introduction to nursing she received at Coe. “The nursing preceptorship provides an amazing one-on-one experience with a nurse that introduces you to direct patient care and the critical role you’ll play in health care,” she said. “I’m so thankful to have had that experience.”