Nicholas Rebmann '08
Nick Rebmann PharmD & MBA, Class of 2008
2020 was a year that brought on unprecedented challenges to health care. Professionally, my role had recently changed to Chief Operating Officer at Hudson Headwaters Health Network in Queensbury, New York, in November 2019. From the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, I had the privilege of working alongside our incredible medical, leadership, and operational leadership teams. Our primary responsibility was to roll out the new standards of primary-care delivery until a vaccine would become available. Everything needed to be accounted for to ensure that our patients and employees were protected and afforded a safe space to work and seek medical care. These changes included the following major initiatives, to name a few: shifting rapidly to telehealth primary care, installing PPE standards and inventory tracking, setting up designated Health Centers as rapid antigen testing sites, and moving 20% of our workforce to remote work. With all these changes happening in real-time and with close collaboration and direction from the New York State Department of Health, we successfully continued to care for our nearly 100,000 patients throughout the year across our 22 locations. In addition to providing primary care, we also tested 37,000 patients for Covid-19 throughout the year.
Once the vaccines became available, we were considered a primary delivery site for vaccines across the North Country, delivering 40,000 vaccine doses through June 2021. As I reflect on this past year, I am so proud of our team for adapting quickly to the rapidly evolving environment while remaining focused on providing excellent health care to so many. As we have seen throughout the pandemic, the real heroes were those on the front lines delivering the care when patients needed it most.
While my family and I were at times inconvenienced with school disruptions and a lack of household goods, we were so thankful to remain in good health throughout the year. My wife, Rosa Azadian PharmD class of 2008, was also on the front lines delivering vaccines to hundreds of patients throughout the Capital District this past spring while also remaining focused on our three children Eloise, Oliver, and Vivienne.
In the spirit of searching for silver linings, it is safe to say science is irreplaceable. Science and inquisitive thinking provide endless opportunities for enhancing healthcare delivery while improving our work-life existence and thereby redefining what is most important to us.