LAKEPORT — Sutter Lakeside Hospital has restricted patient visitation and set up an auxiliary tent among other measures it is taking to prepare for a potential surge in coronavirus patients, the hospital reported this weekend.
“A number of measures are underway at Sutter Lakeside Hospital, which include restricting visitors, postponing all elective surgeries that can be safely rescheduled, erecting a patient surge tent outside of the hospital and keeping staff and affiliated physicians prepared for and informed about local health department and CDC guidance,” the hospital stated in a release.
Though Lake County continued to have no confirmed cases of the coronavirus by press time Monday, efforts to prevent an overwhelming demand on the county’s only two hospitals—Sutter and Adventist Health Clear Lake—have been identified as a priority by Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace for weeks. The two hospitals have 25 beds each.
“The hospitals are really my biggest concern,” Dr. Pace said in a board of supervisors meeting earlier this month, while discussing the prospect of treating coronavirus patients when they begin to appear here. He noted that his department’s strategy is to postpone the spread of the virus as long as possible, and that “if it does get in…then it’s a manageable number, and the local health facilities don’t get overwhelmed.”
“We have approximately 50 hospital beds in Lake County, with 11 ventilators (potentially able to scale to 16 if needed), for a population of 65,000,” Dr. Pace wrote last week. “We easily see the vulnerability of the system, so a strategy of interfering with the entrance of the virus into the county and slowing the spread is essential.”
At Sutter Lakeside, a tent erected outside the facility will increase the patient capacity of the hospital. Emma Dugas, a spokesperson for the hospital, said Monday that the hospital was unable to determine exactly how many more patients could be treated when taking the tent into account, citing “too many variables.”
Adventist Health Clear Lake could not be immediately contacted for information on its preparations for handling coronavirus patients.
Citing bed expansion as a concern, Dr. Pace indicated in a meeting last week that from the information he has, a total of about 40 more beds could be added if needed.
“Sutter can basically double their size to approximately 50 or so,” Dr. Pace said. “Adventist can increase by about 50 percent, so that would be 40 or so.”
The “surge tent” at Sutter will “function in part to limit the general population’s interactions with patients who may have potential respiratory illnesses,” Sutter said in its statement this weekend.
In addition to the tent, the hospital said it is currently “restricting all visitors from its hospitals, effective immediately and until further notice.” Exceptions may be granted to visitors of mothers in labor, end-of-life patients, pediatric patients, and to supporters of disabled patients, the hospital noted.
Incoming patient screening, which includes “asking about symptoms and travel history,” according to the hospital, is also being done.
“Sutter is also postponing all elective surgeries that can be safely rescheduled, effective immediately,” the hospital added. “This is in line with recommendations from the U.S. Surgeon General and the American College of Surgeons to prepare for a patient surge or increased demand. Patients will hear directly from the hospital if their procedure is being postponed.”
The hospital added that it is seeking donations of medical supplies, including for items like N95 masks, powered air-purifying respirator hoods, surgical masks, procedure masks, isolation gowns, paper masks, paper gowns, protective goggles, industrial face shields and painters’ smocks. Donations can be made by calling 707-262-5121 or call 1-844-987-6099.
Responding to common questions, Dugas, the spokesperson for the Sutter hospital, provided the following answers:
1) What should I do if I start to feel ill?
“We encourage patients without life-threatening symptoms to utilize options like our nurse triage line or video visits prior to visiting the emergency room. Video Visits are available daily 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for My Health Online patients.
If you’re concerned that you may have COVID-19, call your doctor or healthcare provider before going to your doctor’s office, a clinic, or the emergency room.
However, if you are experiencing severe symptoms or if you think you have a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest hospital.”
2) What is the max number of beds you could contribute to the COVID-19 surge?
“We are preparing all of our network hospitals in the event we see a surge in patients due to COVID-19. We are leveraging the strength of our integrated network to increase our capacity by continuing to educate Sutter patients about the variety of options available to them if they start to feel ill. Sutter patients who feel ill should call our nurse triage line or consider a video visit to see if they need in-person care. If a patient’s symptoms are mild or moderate, we ask they please stay home to get better and prevent further exposure to others.”
3) What is your capacity for testing (how many test kits do you have)? How many tests have you done?
“Due to a global shortage of test kits and swabs, healthcare organizations like ours cannot test the broad population, and we must preserve COVID-19 tests for individuals who are high-risk and symptomatic. Per CDC guidelines, Sutter is only collecting test specimens from patients with symptoms and certain risk factors.
Patients normally seen at Sutter Lakeside Community Clinic or Sutter Lakeside Medical Practice who start to feel ill, should call the Sutter Nurse triage line (for Sutter patients) – 866-961-2889, available 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week or schedule a video visit to receive guidance and see if you meet the criteria for testing.”
4) What is the tent you’ve erected used for?
“Preparedness efforts are an integral part of our response. Most recently, that has included the addition of a tent located outside of the hospital, which will function in part to limit the general population’s interactions with patients who may have potential respiratory illnesses. The tent is not currently in use but may be used to prepare for a potential surge in patients or screen patients for respiratory illnesses away from the general population. Using a tent is part of our hospital’s plan to deal with a surge of patients, and its use is approved by the state.”
5) Are you increasing staffing?
“Sutter Health is leveraging the strength of its integrated network to prepare for a surge in patients. As a network we are able to establish an internal labor pool and move available staff around the system. Because we’ve canceled elective surgeries and our in-person visits have decreased, we have been able to redeploy staff to respond to COVID-19.”
