To say that hospitals across the countryside overwhelmed is an understatement. The numbers are increasing daily and it’s only getting worse as the government scrambles to distribute the emergency vaccine.
A Nevada hospital is now treating patients in a converted parking garage as numbers show hospitalizations due to Covid-19 in the state have surged 230 percent over the past month.
Renown Regional Medical Center opened an alternative care site with two floors of supplemental hospital beds inside a parking structure to accommodate an overflow in COVID-19 cases.
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The $10 million project, which took 10 days to complete, is fully equipped with all of the beds, devices, and supplies needed to treat coronavirus patients who are clinically stable or improving.
“What we realize is that we need more and more space to be able to continue our daily operations and provide the care that we need for other (non-COVID) patients coming in,” said Tony Slonim, president and CEO of Renown Health.
The parking garage facility now has a maximum occupancy of more than 1,400 patients, with the ability to install about 700 beds per floor.
Hopefully the assigned vaccination slows and lowers rates so doctors are nurses can take a breath a recalibrate. One thing is for sure, we are in for a long winter.