People of CBJ: Dr. Mimi Benjamin

“We’re learning like crazy. We’re learning really important lessons and doing it fast because we have to. I’ve seen projects that would take a year take a week. Restructuring the building, putting up walls, making negative pressure rooms – everything has gone so fast, but it hasn’t been done in a haphazard way. It’s been done in an evidence-based way. We’ve learned how to communicate better, work harder, and more efficiently. We’ll be prepared in case it ever happens again, which it might, and we’ll be smarter and in a better place.”

Dr. Mimi Benjamin has worked as a physician for over 30 years, the last 10 years in Juneau. She is the Medical Director and creator of the Bartlett Regional Hospital Hospitalist program, which started in 2017. Hospitalists are doctors that specialize in taking care of people in the hospital. She is currently also working on the incident command team for COVID-19. Dr. Benjamin thanks the Juneau community for staying inside, social distancing, and wearing face coverings – efforts that seem to be working. She also thanks everyone at BRH, including the nurses, doctors, the people cleaning the rooms and making food, and hospital administration who’ve been nothing but positive every single day.