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Unlike most other already-deployed mobile units around the Long Beach area, the tent will be used for patient care, not just triage.
Construction of the mobile field hospital, including electricity, running water and an HVAC system, is expected to be completed by the weekend but will only be used as a last resort should coronavirus hospitalizations continue to surge across Southern California. Hospitals across the region are bracing for a probable surge following Christmas and New Year’s Eve gatherings.
Now at 578 patients as of Monday, Long Beach-area hospitalizations have more than quadrupled since Nov. 30, with the most drastic increases occurring in mid-December about two weeks after Thanksgiving. Hospitals across Los Angeles and Orange counties have been slammed with massive increases in hospitalizations, with many facilities struggling to keep up with demand.
Fountain Valley Regional Hospital & Medical Center respiratory therapists whose skills and training place them squarely in the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic are describing increasingly untenable work conditions as the facility struggles against its capacity to admit and treat COVID-19 patients.
Concerned about urgent safety issues that have so far gone unaddressed as the patient count continues to rise, employees reached out to representatives from the National Union of Healthcare Workers to intervene on their behalf.
“We had a call with therapists over the weekend, who said we need to sound the alarm,” said Barbara Lewis, NUHW’s Southern California hospital division director. “Our members see how bad it is right now. There needs to be a breakthrough because this is not sustainable.”
Fountain Valley Regional Hospital & Medical Center respiratory therapists whose skills and training place them squarely in the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic are describing increasingly untenable work conditions as the facility struggles against its capacity to admit and treat COVID-19 patients.
Concerned about urgent safety issues that have so far gone unaddressed as the patient census continues to rise, employees reached out to representatives from the National Union of Healthcare Workers to intervene on their behalf.
“We had a call with therapists over the weekend, who said we need to sound the alarm,” said Barbara Lewis, NUHW’s Southern California hospital division director. “Our members see how bad it is right now. There needs to be a breakthrough because this is not sustainable.”
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That, coupled with overworked staff, will undoubtedly lead to an increased number of deaths in coming days, health officials warn.
“It’s all hands on deck right now and everyone is very focused,” Jennifer Bayer, a spokeswoman for Lakewood Regional and Los Alamitos medical centers, said. “Every hospital across the board is experiencing this surge.”
As of Monday evening, the ICUs in Long Beach’s five local hospitals were 98.5% full, with more than 60% of beds filled with COVID-confirmed patients, according to a spokesperson for the city. It’s not clear how many beds those hospitals have among them. Earlier this month, they had 182, but city staff did not know how many beds have been added since then.
SAN FRANCISCO – These are scenes from a battlefield. Full intensive care units. Doctors and nurses working for hours without sleep. Waves of patients dying.
Across California, a post-Thanksgiving COVID-19 spike is ravaging cities and counties that once had been models for how to keep coronavirus cases low. To date, the state has logged 1.9 million cases and 22,000 deaths, with new records seemingly set daily. I feel like someone at war; it s chaotic all the time, said Erin McIntosh, 38, a mother of four who works as a rapid response nurse at Riverside Community Hospital southeast of Los Angeles. She said the National Guard is scheduled to help with care soon.