Glenwood Regional Medical Center has taken a very systematic, proactive and comprehensive approach to balance the need of accommodating a rise in COVID-19 patients, while maintaining the level and quality of care for all our patients and the community we serve.

Our response strategy to COVID-19 has included three distinct stages.

First, our preparations began months ago, when the virus initially emerged in the United States. Steward Health Care, Glenwood Regional’s parent company, launched a substantial program to acquire and stockpile specialty equipment required to treat COVID-19 patients - including ventilators and personal protective equipment. Many of those resources have already been strategically distributed to Steward hospitals, including Glenwood.

Second, because we understand that hospitals need to continue to care for sick patients who don't have COVID-19 – and to keep our emergency rooms as free from COVID-19 as possible, we have instituted multiple protocols and policy changes to protect the patients we serve and our dedicated staff of health care professionals. This includes restricting non-essential visitation, employee and physician screening upon entering the facility and many additional measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. This also ensures greater protections for our valued employees who continue to provide excellent care to all patients.

Third, Glenwood began preparing to handle any influx in COVID-19 patients. On March 16, Glenwood Regional Medical Center transformed an isolated patient care floor into a “Dedicated Care Unit” for treating patients with symptoms of COVID-19 as well as any confirmed cases. Glenwood’s conversion includes the creation of a negative pressure patient ward, enhanced patient isolation protocols, and the marshaling of specialty equipment needed to treat critical COVID-19 cases - including an increased supply of ventilators and personal protective equipment.

This action serves two important purposes. First, by locating COVID-19 patients in a focused environment, Glenwood can better dedicate the necessary resources, equipment and expertise to provide COVID-19 patients focused care and the very best opportunity for a full recovery. Secondly, this measure keeps Glenwood’s Emergency Room fully operational, allowing us to continue caring for other patients who are sick, who are mid-course in treatments, who are in chronic pain and who need high-quality care.

To this end, Glenwood will continue to provide urgently needed treatments and procedures, at the discretion of surgeons and physicians in consultation with their patients. During this pandemic, Glenwood remains committed -- and able -- to meet the essential, ongoing health care needs of its

patients. We cannot ignore the fact that many other patients will continue to experience heart attacks and strokes, be diagnosed with cancers or blood clots, require surgery, and cardiac catheterizations, among a host of other life altering maladies. Our responsibility is to determine how to most effectively care for COVID-19 patients while continuing to provide exceptional care to our communities and keep patients healthy and well.

About Glenwood Regional Medical Center

Glenwood Regional Medical Center is a 278-bed, state-of-the-art hospital located in West Monroe, Louisiana. Glenwood offers comprehensive healthcare services, including emergency care, heart care, advanced surgical procedures, diagnostic imaging, maternity care, rehabilitation services, and help for a broad range of medical conditions. Equipped with the most advanced medical technology, and staffed by a team of highly skilled healthcare professionals, Glenwood is committed to providing high-quality care in a friendly hospital environment.

About Steward Health Care System

Steward Health Care is the largest private, tax-paying physician-led health care network in the United States. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Steward operates 35 hospitals in the United States and the country of Malta that regularly receive top awards for quality and safety. The company employs approximately 42,000 health care professionals. The Steward network includes multiple urgent care centers and skilled nursing facilities, substantial behavioral health services, over 7,900 beds under management, and approximately 2.2 million full risk covered lives through the company's managed care and health insurance services.

The Steward Health Care Network includes 5,000 physicians across 800 communities who help to provide more than 12 million patient encounters per year. Steward Medical Group, the company's employed physician group, provides more than six million patient encounters per year. The Steward Hospital Group operates hospitals in Malta and nine states across the U.S., including Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah.