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Elsa Aguilar Bustos works the 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. shift at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. She helps those suffering from COVID-19, along with others. Bustos, 66, who immigrated to the U.S. from Ecuador, has been a medical interpreter for 16 years. Her job is vital in Baltimore where Latinos have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic - Latinos represent 10% of the state’s population, but 23% of COVID-19 cases.

While a sizeable sector of the market would have welcomed telehealth pre-pandemic, “there were so many barriers to using it on the federal and state fronts that it never had a real chance to gain any traction,” said Jennifer Witten, vice president, government affairs for the Elkridge-based Maryland Hospital Association.

A group of Child Life Specialists at Children's National Hospital are planning to do their part to spread holiday cheer to children and their families on Christmas Day. Leading the charge for this charitable act is Judy Ross, a Child Life Specialist at the hospital.

“We are usually running between 70 and 80 percent capacity of the whole hospital … And staffing continues to be challenging,” said Joelle Butler, Meritus Health corporate communications. “Our healthcare heroes are just sticking it out.” Joelle Butler also stated Meritus has backup plans to open more beds should the situation call for it.

Charles Regional Medical Center at the University of Maryland is making sure babies born in the month of December are celebrated properly. In the midst of a pandemic, it's just what we all needed and may have not even realized it. “Nestled all snug in their beds," the medical center announced on its Facebook post.

Baltimore's Mercy Medical Center has been awarded an "A" grade in the Fall 2020 national Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, the hospital said in a statement. Mercy is one of six hospitals in Baltimore to receive an "A." Mercy also earned Leapfrog's "A" safety rating in both the spring and fall of 2019.

Howard County General Hospital has received accreditation from the Maryland Department of Health to provide training and certification for community health workers who connect people in groups who have traditionally lacked adequate health care with health care and social services providers.

LifeBridge Health's Chief Operating Officer Leslie Simmons was featured on Maryland Public Television’s “State Circle.” She talks about how LifeBridge Health is caring for patients as case numbers continue to climb and the hopes around the recently approved vaccine. She also urges people not to delay their care because of COVID-19.

The 83-year-old grandmother from Rosedale repeated an emotional thank you to nurses as she was wheeled through a clap line of staff and hospital management.

One of the tragedies of this pandemic is that it keeps families apart while a loved one is sick in the hospital with COVID-19. Meritus Health built a new ground-level facility in Hagerstown to address that. The permanent 20-bed unit is lined with big windows so that COVID patients can see family and friends as they recover.