“It almost makes the hair stand up on your neck” – PRMC doctor talks COVID-19 preparations
SALISBURY, Md. – Peninsula Regional Medical Center is now able to house 43 more COVID-19 patients. The expansion was made possible by converting an office space into a unit for the sickest patients. “It’s a wonderful thing, but it’s also very daunting and scary, and it makes you realize what we’re preparing for and what’s coming through the doors,” said Dr. Chris Snyder.
Dr. Snyder tells 47ABC that the conversion process involved hard work from area contractors. “You’re basically taking a work area and actually, any building that has the space capability, and you’re having to line it to protect the floors, protect the walls, and then embed all the necessary elements that we need to care for this level of patient,” said Dr. Snyder.
This isn’t the first time the space has been used as a treatment facility. Dr. Snyder says the building was originally built to house Ebola patients. “The Layfield tower was built for Ebola, so it really created a negative pressure building for us and I’m not kidding you, from the fifth floor where the top of the building is, all the way down to the basement, it’s all negative pressure with the doors closed,” he said.
That negative pressure system is designed to bring fresh air into the unit, and keep contaminated air from escaping outside. “The team at the time had some foresight to understand that we may be able to convert this space at some point to what we’ve done. Never in a million years did we envision it to this point,” said Dr. Snyder.
He says even with the foresight of the building’s designers, the amount of work that went into converting and preparing the space for patients is incredible. “It includes gas lines with oxygen, plumbing, obviously water, toilets, bins for trash cans. It’s absolutely astonishing what our team has done in the last two weeks,” said Dr. Snyder.
The doctor tells 47ABC that although this space will make it possible for PRMC to care for dozens of COVID-19 patients, it’s an eerie premonition for what might be coming. “It almost makes the hair stand up on your neck when you walk into this environment and see what we’ve done,” said Dr. Snyder.
PRMC says that once things have gotten back to normal, the space will be deep cleaned and sanitized. After that, it will be converted back into an office space. In the meantime, the hospital is doing trial runs to perfect getting patients in and out of the unit. Once doctors and staff feel comfortable with the process, they’ll begin transferring patients into the space.
