A husband and wife were admitted to the emergency COVID-19 field hospital in Lenoir on the same day. They were nervous â as anyone being treated for a new virus in a hospital made of tents would be, Samaritanâs Purse Medical Director Erin Holzhauer said.
Both made it through the coronavirus and were discharged on the same day, she said. Days later, the husband returned to the hospital, which was set up in the parking lot of Caldwell UNC Health Care. He wanted to thank the staff.
âHe said COVID is an awful disease and he would not wish it upon anyone,â Holzhauer said. âBut he said, âI would not take my COVID back.â Because he wouldnât want to lose his experience in the tent hospital. ⦠That is really what stands out to me.â
As North Carolina continues to break its own COVID-19 records, hospital workers have been feeling extra pressure to keep up with the growing number of patients. Recognizing it needed help, Caldwell Memorial Hospital, along with several other nearby facilities, reached out to the Christian organization Samaritan s Purse. Throughout the pandemic, the international relief group set up emergency field hospitals in Italy, New York City and the Bahamas. This is only the second field hospital that the group has set up in the U.S. The group announced a third will be set up in California on Sunday night.Medical Director Erin Holzhauer said with each unit they set up, their disaster specialists have learned more about fighting the virus and how to better take care of their patients. These patients are going to receive top-level care, Holzhauer said, standing outside the newly set-up tents in Lenoir. We re hoping that we got here just in time to be able to relieve some pressure and keep
Hospitals Face Staff Shortages as Coronavirus Hammers North Carolina
Staff shortages more of a danger than
Erin Holzhauer, medical director of the Samaritan’s Purse Covid-19 field hospital in Western North Carolina, has also worked as a nurse in a similar field hospital in the city of Cremona in northern Italy this last spring. The team there treated 281 patients from March 20 to May 8. (Photo courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse)
North Carolina’s hospitals are quickly filling up with patients stricken by the coronavirus, even as health systems in some of the hardest-hit regions the Triad and greater Charlotte area take steps to make room for a wave of new patients. The looming crisis is fueled by lack of clinical staff, not by a lack of physical space for beds.
LENOIR, N.C. (RNS) The evangelical humanitarian relief organization has trained healthcare workers or treated COVID-19 patients in 30 countries. Its latest field hospital is in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
WFAE
A hospital bed sits in one of the tarp-enclosed rooms at North Carolina s field hospital in Lenoir. Each room will also have a heart monitor and other medical equipment.
North Carolina’s hospitals are quickly filling up with patients stricken by the coronavirus, even as health systems in some of the hardest-hit regions the Triad and greater Charlotte area take steps to make room for a wave of new patients.
The looming crisis is fueled by lack of clinical staff, not by lack of physical space for beds.
Health care workforce shortages have been chronic and persistent in some areas of the state, particularly rural ones. But with virtually every hospital in the state drawing on a finite pool of available providers, more than 4,000 North Carolina hospital beds are either unstaffed or were not reported to the state, data from the Department of Health and Human Services shows. COVID-19 infections in health care workers have also compounded the shortage.