Coronavirus Crisis: DCU Center Opens Thursday As First Field Hospital In Mass.
WORCESTER (CBS) - As the flurry of activity before opening day intensifies inside Massachusetts' first coronavirus field hospital, so does the plea for more protective equipment. UMass Memorial Medical Center President Dr. Eric Dickson is asking for help with hoods called PAPRs that can replace N95 masks.
"If you've got to work a 12-hour shift, you want a PAPR," he said. He's overseeing the set-up of the DCU Center, which is ready to open its doors to patients Thursday. "Unfortunately, we have very, very few PAPRs. If anyone has PAPRs out there, we could really use them," he said.
The facility is prepared to accept about 20 patients immediately. "We would anticipate within the next couple of weeks being up to 50, 100," said Dr. Dickson. There is room for 214 patients if the need arises.
"I was really just a medical student a week ago," said Grant Lewandrowski. He's one of many medical school students who graduated early to answer the call. "There is an amount of fear, and you know, I have a family myself, and I have my own health," he said. "If not us, there's no one else to do it."
The facility is meant to help area hospitals overrun with COVID-19 patients by taking those with less critical symptoms. Organizers say it's a more comfortable set-up because patients won't be required to isolate, the way they would in a hospital room. Since everyone in the building will be a COVID-19 patient or a staffer in full protective gear, patients are free to walk around and even take showers.
The DCU's transformation from an arena and convention center to a hospital took just one week. It's designed for less critical patients during the surge. UMass Memorial Medical Center's seven facilities have already seen more than 100 coronavirus patients.
Those who put the infrastructure together say the oxygen was the biggest challenge. The building is full of copper tubing pumping oxygen from a tank outside to patients' bedsides. There's also an intricate web of computer cables leading to life-saving machines and patient portals. There's an X-ray machine, a pharmacy and much more.
"I don't think anyone can be fully ready," said Lewandrowski. "None of us have been specifically trained in doing this, but the idea is to be adaptable and sort of rise to the needs that are going to present themselves in the coming days and weeks."
