At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hilo Medical Center prepared for a surge of patients that never came.
Medical Director Dr. Kathleen Katt said the hospital had a five-stage plan to care for the community and keep staff safe.
“Fortunately, so far, our island has not had a rapid spread of the virus,” she said last week. “Thank you to our community for wearing masks, social distancing and hand sanitizing.”
As the hospital adjusts to a world with COVID-19, HMC is working to resume as many health care services as is safe, she said.
Elective surgeries resumed, telehealth services increased and the hospital opened up to visitors on a modified schedule.
Katt said a COVID-19 test is required for all new hires prior to work and for staff and vendors returning to work after traveling out of state.
“This will ensure that our patients and staff are safe in this ‘chronic COVID’ time,” she said. “This may change at any given time based on our local spread of the virus and the upsurge of cases on Oahu. We are prepared and expect to care for patients with COVID-19.”
Early last month, a traveling doctor who worked briefly at Ka‘u Hospital and Rural Health Clinic tested positive after working two days, prior to the testing program being fully implemented.
As of last week, however, there had been no additional positive test results for any incoming travel nurses or doctors.
In June, more than 1,400 employees in the East Hawaii Region of the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. — which includes HMC, hospitals in Honokaa and Ka‘u and clinics in Hilo, Ka‘u and Puna — underwent mandatory COVID-19 testing, all of which were negative.
On Wednesday, the health care system began random testing to monitor for any cases of the virus.
HMC spokeswoman Elena Cabatu said the goal is to test 230 employees in the East Hawaii Region.
“It’s only a matter of time,” Cabatu said. “That’s why it’s incumbent on us to be prepared. … It’s not if, it’s when, so we need to try our very best to stop it at the front door.”
Katt said, too, that the hospital is continually tracking the spread of the virus, supplies of personal protective equipment and updates in treatment.
According to information on the HMC website, PPE was in good supply as of July 31, with 115,000 surgical masks, 20,220 N95 masks, 1.7 million gloves, 82,540 gowns and 4,550 face shields on hand and more on order.
“We will remain flexible to be able to stay up to date and prepared to keep our staff safe and provide quality care to our patients,” Katt said. “We thank the community for their use of safe practices that have not allowed community spread.”
Capacity
For nearly two weeks, Hawaii has reported triple-digit COVID-19 cases — the majority on Oahu — and state leaders have voiced concern that some hospitals were approaching their intensive care capacities.
Nine beds in HMC’s 11-bed intensive care unit are usually “filled constantly,” Cabatu said.
“We fill our ICU without a pandemic,” Katt said. “We cannot do what Honolulu is doing. We don’t have the capacity to do it.”
But if Hawaii Island’s numbers stay down, HMC is prepared to handle a surge, she said.
Space and the number of patients admitted will “change the process of how we care for people and where we put our COVID patients in our hospital to keep our staff and other patients safe,” she said. “… We have a plan to keep our patients safe and our COVID patients taken care of appropriately.”
Katt, however, said she is concerned about the recent surge in cases on Oahu, adding that many people on the Big Island travel to Oahu for health care they can’t receive here.
“Our patients need to travel to Oahu for medical care, and when I see this happening, it’s frightening,” she said. “I’m worried that they’re going to be overwhelmed. I hope we have a shelter-in-place mandate soon. We need to get this flattened and get the levels down again.
“I am for opening up when we can, in a very slow, pragmatic way and being able to lock down again quickly when we need to. At this point, what I see in Honolulu is worrisome, (but) I trust my colleagues and trust the (state Department of Health) to make the right decisions and guide us through this pandemic in a science-based way.”
Email Stephanie Salmons at ssalmons@hawaiitribune-herald.com.