The tents were first installed outside the medical center in March 2020, but were never needed. Now, with 25 COVID patients hospitalized as of 8 a.m. Friday, including three patients receiving intensive care, the tents are needed now, according to Tom Hottman, public information officer for Sky Lakes.
鈥淭his will help offload pressure from the main ED (Emergency Department) to take care of more patient flow as well as to separate COVID and non-COVID patients to keep the environment much safer,鈥� Hottman told JPR on Friday.
Hottman said the tents were being outfitted with the proper electricity, heating and cooling, and were being equipped with the technology needed to screen patients.
鈥淚t鈥檚 up to the workflow on how they鈥檒l be used,鈥� Hottman said. 鈥淲e want to observe physical distancing so people aren鈥檛 stacked one on top of the other, not just for COVID purposes, but because it鈥檚 the polite thing to do.
鈥淧rojections indicate that we can expect to have at least this level of patients for a long time,鈥� Hottman added. 鈥淪ome of the models suggest that the numbers could double in two to three weeks.鈥�
Hottman said the COVID patients the approximately 130-bed medical center is seeing are sicker and younger than during the beginning of the pandemic.
鈥淐urrently the age range (of COVID-19 patients) is from 30鈥檚 to 80鈥檚, with a fair number in their 50鈥檚 and 60鈥檚,鈥� Hottman said.
Also on Friday,Sky Lakes had an orientation for more than 20 airmen from the 173rd Air National Guard Fighter Wing at Kingsley Field. The group is part of the National Guard deployment assigned to provide additional help for over-stretched hospitals in Oregon.
Next week, the medical center will also start the week with 48 clinical personnel from around the state to help alleviate strain on the medical center, which has had more than two dozen staff members test positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks.
Hottman said Klamath County has often 鈥渓agged鈥� behind neighboring Jackson County and others in the region in terms of COVID-19 patient numbers, but has the potential to catch up.
鈥淏ecause we don鈥檛 have those numbers now doesn鈥檛 mean we won鈥檛,鈥� Hottman said.
Sky Lakes updates its COVID-19 patient load on social media accounts, including Twitter, daily.
Hottman said the medical center asks the communities in the Klamath Basin to get vaccinated if they haven鈥檛 yet done so, as well as wearing masks and practicing social distancing.
