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Last Wednesday, CHA President & CEO Carmela Coyle joined Gov. Gavin Newsom at his press conference on COVID-19 to give an update on how hospitals plan, prepare, and partner in their response to COVID-19.
After opening remarks by the Governor, Coyle was introduced to share the health care system surge capacity, how hospitals have developed a mutual system of aid, and why certain protocols require that patients get transferred. Her opening comments focused on hospital surge capacity and readiness. She spoke about how hospitals continue to be ready to deal with the COVID-19 crisis and three things they are focused on: planning, preparing, and partnering.
Coyle explained that hospitals will surge differently this time and addressed how hospitals will balance COVID-19 patients and others, noting that caregivers now have different tools available to them. They include:
- Therapeutics, such as remdesivir, which have been shown to shorten the length of COVID-19
- Fewer patients on ventilators as doctors and nurses have learned more about how to care for patients
- Greater efficiency and creation of more capacity
