ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – A primary overflow site is in a position to quickly start taking patients from Alaska if the coronavirus pandemic exceeds bed capacity, but staffing remains a problem, authorities said.
Heidi Hedberg of the State Department of Health and Human Services said the overflow site at The Alaska Airlines Center Hospital in Anchorage could be in a position to be used within 48 hours, Alaska state media reported Friday.
The sand changed to an overflow site in April in case hospitals were crowded with COVID-19 patients, while other facilities were also being prepared at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.
Neither was used for medical treatment, but in the summer, the Alaska Airlines Center remained in a position for medical use rather than reopening for sports, said Hedberg, the department’s director of public health.
The facility is ready with patient spaces, beds, and nursing stations, and the state wants two days to enforce the staffing, medical, and laundry needed to run the facility. center, he said.
“This is what we have a ‘hot’ state, ready, ” said Hedberg.
Jared Kosin, director of the Alaska State Hospital and the Nursing Home Association, said having enough health for the operation remains a problem.
“We have all those attention sites of choice in theory, and they’re in a position to go. But the question is, will we have staff?” Kosin said.
Kosin and Hedberg stated that the state had characteristics for hiring staff, adding a database of authorized fitness personnel who are retired or running and can be called in an emergency.
The Alaska Respond program has the emergency formula for pre-registration of volunteer fitness professionals, a program required by the federal government.
“We are recruiting new authorized fitness professionals at Alaska Respond, especially others who have just retired and are no longer working, (and) who still have their licenses,” Hedberg said.
Alaska also has partnerships with nonprofit groups, adding Samaritan’s Purse, which provided physical care staff to Bristol Bay last season.
State fitness officials talk to hospital staff on a basis for assessing needs, Hedberg said.
“There are features out there. So what we have to do is keep all the features on the table and review the features,” Hedberg said.
For others, coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that go away within two to three weeks. For some, especially the elderly and others with existing physical disorders, this can lead to a more serious illness, adding pneumonia. death.