NW Arkansas hospitals plan for covid-19 patients

Hospitals in Northwest Arkansas are considering ways to increase space for covid-19 patients as the region treats more cases.

Mercy Health System is looking at how it can increase capacity to care for coronavirus patients and is working to predict the number of patients it will have as the pandemic continues, said Dr. Stephen Goss, president at Mercy Clinic Northwest Arkansas. Mercy already has one area of the hospital dedicated to patients who have or may have covid-19.

"We hope we're overplanning," Goss said.

Mercy opened a seven-story tower in November at the hospital in Rogers. The sixth and seventh floors were built for expansion and are not being used. Goss said those floors could be converted into extra bed space, separated by curtains, if necessary.

Mercy, along with all of the region's largest hospitals, has temporarily stopped performing most elective surgeries to free up hospital space and resources, and to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

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Goss said the move will allow the hospital to convert some rooms that would have been used for surgical recovery into rooms for patients with covid-19. He said the rooms' ventilation systems can be converted similar to intensive-care unit rooms so they have negative pressure airflow to keep the air clean.

Mercy's smaller hospital in Berryville will generally transfer patients with severe or critical symptoms to the Rogers hospital or the system's hospital in Springfield, Mo., according to spokeswoman Jennifer Cook. One Berryville patient suspected of having covid-19 was already transferred to Springfield.

Gravette's Ozarks Community Hospital, a 25-bed hospital in rural Benton County, does not have an intensive-care unit and generally transfers critically ill patients to nearby larger hospitals, said Scott Taylor, assistant hospital administrator.

The hospital has added 11 beds in preparation for covid-19 patients and plans to add another 15, Taylor said. The hospital has four ventilators and is working to get more so it can treat critically ill patients if necessary. His hospital also postponed most elective surgeries.

Eureka Springs Hospital, another small hospital in the region, did not respond to requests for comment.

"Like other hospitals across the state, Washington Regional is currently working with the Arkansas Department of Health and Arkansas Department of Emergency Management to determine the number of hospital beds and the number of ICU beds needed in each region based on the projected volume of patients," according to Cynthia Crowder, spokeswoman for the medical center in Fayetteville.

Washington Regional is equipped to care for patients, who have or may have covid-19 in specialized rooms in its emergency department, a dedicated covid-19 unit and a dedicated critical-care unit. The critical-care unit is for patients whose care is overseen by infectious disease physicians and intensivists, doctors who specialize in treatment of critically ill patients, according to Crowder.

"If additional specialized isolation units are needed, we have a plan in place to determine which patients can safely receive care in other areas of our hospital. We are also prepared to open additional isolation units as necessary," according to Crowder.

Northwest Health is looking at how its affiliated clinic spaces -- including pre-operation, anesthesia care units and surgery centers -- could be used for additional bed capacity, according to spokeswoman Christina Bull.

Northwest Health has five hospitals in the region, including two larger medical centers in Springdale and Bentonville.

"All of our rooms are single occupancy and could be converted to double-occupancy, if needed," Bull said.

Arkansas Children's Northwest, which opened two years ago in Springdale, does not have an intensive-care unit.

"As always, critically ill patients at Arkansas Children's Northwest will be transferred to our sister campus, Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, a key component of the model we designed as the state's only pediatric health system to provide the best care to families statewide," Trisha Montague, chief administrator of Children's Northwest, said in an email.

Children's Northwest has isolation rooms that can be used for covid-19 patients and has a plan to expand that capacity if needed, Montague said.

Northwest Health, Arkansas Children's Northwest and Ozarks Community Hospital have confirmed that they have not admitted any patients with covid-19. Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas and Washington Regional would not say whether they had admitted any patients with the virus.

Meg Mirivel, spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Health, said Friday that fewer than five people in Northwest Arkansas were in the hospital with the virus.

SundayMonday on 04/06/2020