Why Mount Nittany is opening a new wing and why it’s ‘well-positioned’ to tackle the coronavirus
Mount Nittany Medical Center will open a new wing dedicated to treating COVID-19 by Friday, as officials told the Centre Daily Times they believe the hospital is “very well-positioned” with its current resources.
The wing, converted from an existing medical unit, will initially feature 21 beds with the ability to expand as needed. Overall, the hospital has 208 medical/surgical beds and 24 licensed ICU beds, according to officials.
“We are saying that this is our first step, and that first step gets us a dedicated wing with 21 beds,” said Dr. Nirmal Joshi, chief medical officer for Mount Nittany Health. “There’s nothing magical about the ‘21’ number; it just offers up that first round of capacity that we can dedicate to this pandemic. And, if we need more, we can flex more.”
Joshi also said the hospital can currently provide ventilator care for up to 40 patients — “and we are awaiting shipment of additional ventilators.” That number is at odds with information first released by the state Wednesday, which listed Centre County’s ventilators at 17 total with five in use. But Mount Nittany Health officials said they’ve been in communication with the state about amending information.
Similarly sized counties — such as Beaver, Franklin and Monroe — have 15, 27 and 70 available ventilators, respectively.
The state’s numbers have changed at least once since first being released Wednesday afternoon, after Gov. Tom Wolf announced state emergency officials will be allowed to “commandeer” and redistribute supplies — such as ventilators and N95 masks — from those not in need to those in greater need.
Locally, neither Joshi nor Mount Nittany Health President and CEO Kathleen Rhine were certain whether they’d receive additional resources from the state or whether some supplies might be moved to another hospital. But, as it stands, both remained confident that they have enough resources to battle the pandemic based on an internal model that tries to look ahead 2-3 weeks.
Beyond that time frame, Joshi joked that a crystal ball might be more useful.
“It depends on all of us,” he said. “It depends on us, if we’re able to consistently practice social-distancing and the hygiene measures that have been well-known to prevent the spread of epidemic disease. And my hope is that we will be able to not only flatten the curve but push it out enough that by that point, hopefully, the epidemic and the pandemic across the world starts to die down.”
Centre County gained two new cases Thursday of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, increasing the total number of cases in the county to 59, according to the state Department of Health. Over the past seven days, the number of positive cases has more than doubled from 28.
But that’s mostly good news. In more dense areas, the number of positive cases can double every three days. And so far, Joshi said, Centre County’s numbers are very treatable.
“We are seeing a steady but slow growth in our community,” he said, “which is far more manageable as a community than a sharper or rapid increase.”
As the cases continue to increase, Joshi and Rhine said Mount Nittany Health will adapt and evolve as needed. They believe a dedicated wing should focus care, decrease the potential for cross-contamination and allow certain supplies, like Tyvek suits and N95 masks, to last longer since a nurse or doctor can treat multiple patients.
But, above all, Mount Nittany Medical Center emphasized that its needs tomorrow will be decided by what Centre County residents do today. And both Joshi and Rhine stressed the same message.
“There’s really a variety of ways to help, posted on our website,” Rhine said. “But one of the most important ways to support our caregivers is to practice social-distancing, mask when you’re out in the community, wash your hands and clean surfaces so we can all slow the spread and help each other stay healthy.”
Added Joshi: “It’s beginning to look like the aggressive efforts of social distancing are beginning to take hold. ... There is only one message we can give the community: Put one foot ahead of the other and keep social distancing until the time we can get out of this.”
