Henry Ford Health System Prepares for Surge

(March 28, 2020 10:19 AM) In anticipation of an expected surge of COVID-19 patients, Henry Ford Health System has taken several action steps system-wide to ensure the safety of patients and team members and sustain the coordination of care.

Among them:

The second-floor Gastroenterology and Endoscopy Suite at Henry Ford Medical Center-Fairlane in Dearborn has been converted into a 16-bed inpatient unit for non-COVID patients. It would also serve to accept non-COVID-19 patients from nearby Henry Ford Hospital. The outpatient facility has also opened a fast track triage process for non-COVID-19 patients in the ambulatory surgery suite.
Henry Ford Hospital, the health system’s Level 1 trauma hospital, is currently caring for the most COVID-19 patients. As of this past Thursday, 194 patients were hospitalized. Several clinics at the hospital also have been relocated to other clinic sites in metro Detroit.
Henry Ford Macomb Hospital has converted eight operating rooms in its first-floor ambulatory surgery center into intensive care beds.
The Townsend Medical Center in Vandercook Lake (Jackson) has been converted to a walk-in respiratory clinic. This clinic is specifically for patients with respiratory symptoms, such as new onset cough, shortness of breath, congestion or fever. Anyone entering the Townsend campus will be screened in their car and directed where to park. The temporary Respiratory Clinic began seeing patients Friday, March 27. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital is converting its surgical units to a dedicated COVID-19 unit. It also has nearly doubled its intensive care beds to 32 from 18 and converted semi-private rooms into single private rooms. If needed, the hospital is prepared to convert 19 pre-op beds for intensive care use as well as convert its nine-bed chest pain unit for COVID-19 patients.
All non-time sensitive procedures, surgeries and clinic appointments are postponed. Complex neurosurgery, advanced ophthalmology and cancer procedures are being performed temporarily at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital instead of Henry Ford Hospital.

“Our footprint with inpatient and outpatient facilities has given us the flexibility to take these aggressive steps to prepare us for a significant increase of patients in the days and weeks ahead,” says Bob Riney, president of Healthcare Operations and chief operating officer. “We’re in uncharted territory with this pandemic and the challenges it is presenting to hospitals and health systems in this country and worldwide. We’re planning for the worst and doing everything possible to ensure the safety of our patients and our team members and sustain the coordination of care.”

Betty Chu, M.D., associate chief clinical officer and chief safety officer, says deliberate, thoughtful planning was part of the decision-making process that involved senior leaders, operating unit leaders and providers from across the health system. The plans have been weeks in the making.

“I can’t say enough about the extraordinary work of our providers, nurses and team members who have rallied around these action steps and brought them to fruition,” says Dr. Chu, who is the incident commander for the health system’s incident command team coordinating its COVID-19 planning response action plan. “While we can’t predict what’s to come, we believe the steps we’ve taken put us in a better position to manage the care of our patients.”

Currently, Dr. Chu says, Henry Ford has an adequate supply of personal protective equipment including masks for all providers and team members caring for patients. The health system’s supply chain management team is exploring all available options locally, nationally and internationally, Dr. Chu says.

Last weekend, the health system received shipments of 12,000 n95 respirators and 16,000 procedure masks that were distributed across the health system. Henry Ford also said it has received 5,000 industrial n95s from General Motors and is anticipating 40,000 industrial masks from Ford Motor Co. An industrial n95 mask can be substituted for a procedure mask in the health care setting. Henry Ford has about 400 ventilators, with 74 new ventilators expected to be delivered in about eight weeks.

“We are doing things every day to prepare,” said Dr. Alan Lazzara, Emergency Department Physician at Henry Ford Allegiance Health in Jackson. “We are conserving our PPE (personal protection equipment), mandating all providers in the ED and in the hospital wear(regular surgical) masks at all times. We’ve also dedicated hallways for non COVID cases. We only have a certain number of negative pressure rooms, so when those run out we can dedicate this hallway for a little kid with a broken arm and this hallway for someone having difficulty breathing and separating those patient populations.”

We are braced for what’s coming our way,” said Lazzara. “We feel like it’s a slow-burning fire from the east. We can see hospital after hospital dealing with a a surge of patients.”

The Emergency Department has seen cases that are a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, including mental health emergencies. “We see people who like ‘my husband is laid off, and I’m super depressed and we don’t know what we’re going to do for money’ “, said Lazzara. “We are seeing the domino-effect of all the ways this virus is affecting society. In a lot of ways we are the safety net for people’s health care.”

In Jackson, the hospital has increased the number of rooms that will be available for COVID-19 patients as all non-time sensitive procedures and surgeries have been postponed.

Dr. Mark Smith, Chief Medical Officer of Henry Ford Allegiance Health, said the census is down as the hospital prepares. “We have 325 beds in Jackson. On Wednesday, our census was 168 beds and our normal census is 270.”

HFAH continues to operate the mobile testing site at One Jackson Square. those interested in getting tested need to call (313) 874-1055 for screening.

Drive-through testing is only recommended if individuals are experiencing symptoms (e.g., fever, cough, or shortness of breath), and have a risk factor (e.g., age 65 or older, chronic medical condition, or immunocompromised), and one of the following: