It has taken just five days to construct London's COVID-19 field hospital.
The 144-bed facility was built using steel frames, white tarps, and 43,000 square feet of flooring inside the Western Fair District Agriplex. But the hope of officials at the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is that the temporary off-site hospital will never need to be opened.
"The success for this facility is that we build it, we get it ready, and we never have to use it," said Neil Johnson, acting president and CEO of LHSC. "We want to have it ready because we know if we need it, we’re going to need it quickly."
Acting President and CEO of LHSC Neil Johnson.
Patients would only begin filling the new field hospital if there is a surge of COVID-19 cases in the London region that causes a strain on the city's existing hospitals. If that were to happen, the most critically ill patients would remain at the traditional hospitals, while non-critical patients would be transferred to the field hospital.
"This facility would be used for patients that are on the road to recovery, but not ready to go home yet," said Johnson. "Low acuity, low needs. We are not going to have a lot of interventions done here. It will be fairly basic restorative care, perhaps some palliative care as well."
If someone at the field hospital was to take a turn for the worse, they would be transferred back to the London Health Sciences Centre, added Johnson.
While there will be no ventilators on-site, there will be portable oxygen, portable chest x-ray and ultrasound machines, intravenous equipment, and other basic care items. Those supplies still need to be stocked. The facility has also been connected to the LHSC's information technology department so healthcare workers will be able to access patient records.
The field hospital has thus far cost approximately $750,000 to construct. Work on it began last Friday with architects and general contractors jumping into action.
"We are in this together as a community. There have been many offers of products, supplies, services and rental equipment that have come to our attention that we are trying to use to help deliver this facility as quickly as possible," said Derek Lall, director of facilities management at LHSC.
The first phase of the build has the 144 beds divided between eight wards. Should the need arise, the facility could expand to a total of 500 beds.
"We have the ability to offer some privacy, but also the visual aspect to make sure the nursing professionals who are going to be staffing and operating this space are going to be able to see the patients and have eye contact," said Lall,
Nurses will have a 'workstation on wheels' to go up and down the corridor to manage the patients and make sure their condition is stable.
A team made up of one physician, two nurses and several personal support workers would care for roughly 16 patients during an eight-hour shift. Just like a traditional hospital, the temporary site would be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The exact staffing model is still being determined.
"There is a number of different variables at play here," said Johnson. "We need to know what our hospital capacity is like, how many staff we have who might be sick and how many retired staff we could pull back in. We have lots of people offering their services, so I'm pretty confident on the physician side that we will be able to mount a good response."
Visitors would not be permitted, but LHSC is working to establish a system to allow for virtual visits.
To date, the London region has seen 150 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the outbreak began. Of those, 26 remain in the care of the London Health Sciences Centre – eight in intensive care.
