CLEVELAND — Gov. Mike DeWine, Ohio Department of Health director Dr. Amy Acton and the Ohio National Guard have announced locations of buildings that can be converted into medical centers to double or triple medical capacity in the state of Ohio during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Representatives from health care systems, county emergency management agencies, state agencies, local government and the National Guard chose the following locations as alternative medical sites to help with the surge of COVID-19 cases expected to impact Ohio within the next several weeks:
- Case Western University Health Education Center in Cleveland
- SeaGate Convention Centre in Toledo
- Dayton Convention Center in Montgomery County
- Covelli Centre in Youngstown
- Duke Energy Convention Center in Hamilton County
- Greater Columbus Convention Center in Franklin County
The Cleveland Clinic told News 5 it is working around the clock, turning the education center into a 1,000 bed facility that will hopefully be ready to accept coronavirus patients by the third week of April.
Dr. Edmund Sabanegh, President of the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus and regional facilities said the alternative medical site will be able to perform a series of treatments on patients with COVID-19, while maintaining the traditional quality of care seen on a regular hospital floor.
“We are moving furniture out, designing the spaces so we can take good care of our patients. Running oxygen lines and creating supply chains to this building,” Sabanegh said.
"We will have the ability to provide oxygen, the ability to provide IV fluids and IV medication, and continued monitoring of vital signs.”
"Our predictive modeling suggests that we might need to provide as many as several times the normal amount of medical beds."
The team chose the sites after analyzing certain qualifications such as distance to an existing hospital, conditions safe for patients and health care professionals and space to meet the region’s expected need.
The Cleveland Clinic said the Case Western University Health Education Center on Euclid Avenue made sense because it's extremely close to clinic ICU facilities, should coronavirus patients need more extensive treatment quickly.
On March 27, DeWine asked his team to find these alternative healthcare alternatives sites.
The governor divided the state of Ohio into eight different regions and requested each region to put together a collective plan for how to expand hospital bed capacity.
The assessments of other sites will continue and will be used across Ohio if needed, DeWine said.
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