Cleveland - Over the past several months, Cleveland Clinic has been working hard to prepare for COVID-19.
Currently, we are seeing a growing number of COVID-19 patients admitted throughout our health system. None of our hospitals are at or over capacity at this time.
However, in anticipation of an expected surge in patients, we are preparing to add thousands of beds across our Ohio locations to meet the potential need for patient care. We have based our planning on the predictive modeling our experts have undertaken to anticipate resources needed and be prepared to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of this, Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University are collaborating to temporarily convert the main building on the Health Education Campus of Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic into a fully functioning surge hospital to treat COVID-19 patients not requiring high levels of care but who are in need of hospitalization.
Details of the new surge hospital include:
- The four-story, 477,000-square-foot building can accommodate up to 1,000 hospital beds.
- These beds will be used for low-acuity patients with COVID-19. These are patients who do not require ventilators or large amounts of oxygen.
- The new hospital to be open in the coming weeks. A multi-disciplinary team including nursing, supply chain, operations and medical leadership have come together to ensure this facility will safely house patients and stabilize their care before they return home.
- The hospital will be fully staffed and equipped to care for patients, just like on a regular nursing floor, including the ability to monitor patients, provide IV medications and administer oxygen.
- Patients who need a higher level of care will be able to be quickly transferred to an intensive care unit. The location was chosen primarily for its proximity to and ease of access to Cleveland Clinic’s main campus.
- Cleveland Clinic committed to providing the highest quality care to our patients, no matter where they are located. Patients at the surge hospital will receive the same quality of care as patients in our traditional hospital units.
- Caregivers will follow the same safety policies and procedures at this hospital as they do anywhere else in our health system.
- Our partners at Case Western Reserve University are working closely with us to support this temporary conversion.
We are adapting to the ever-changing COVID-19 situation in order to care for patients in the safest way possible and to protect our caregivers—this remains our top priority.
© 2020 iHeartMedia, Inc.
Hear news updates at the top and bottom of the hour:wtam.com/listen