Tents re-erected at Houston Healthcare

As the coronavirus pandemic strengthened in the spring, extra precautions were taken at Houston Healthcare in Warner Robins that included the erection of tents just outside of the emergency entrance where prospective patients were prescreened before being allowed access into the medical center. Those tents were removed several weeks ago as the “curve was flattened,” and the spread of the virus seemed, to some degree, to be under control.

In recent days, there has been a spike in the number of positive COVID-19 both locally and nationally. For Houston Healthcare, the number of patients in the hospital over-all has increased. As a result, tents were re-erected last week, and precautionary measures have intensified to better ensure the health and safety of those coming to the emergency area for any reason.

The sight of the tents drew curiosity and concern from area residents, and Executive Director of Marketing and Business Development Kevin Rowley spoke with Houston Home Journal to offer further clarification. In doing so, he verified that as of Friday, the number of COVID-19 patients inside the facility had increased rather sharply from what had been reported just a few days prior, but the tents were not a result of the coronavirus only.

“The number of COVID positive in-patients is up to 43 as of this morning,” Rowley said on Friday. “They are not all in ICU,” he stipulated. “I don’t have the total number that’s in ICU, but I believe it is less than 10. The rest are normal in-patients.”

Coincidently, Rowley informed that at the same time as the number of COVID patients increased, the hospital also saw a large influx of patients for various non-COVID reasons. Because of that, he said that the medical center as a whole has become very nearly full.

“We’ve not brought back all the tents,” Rowley explained, citing that during the height of COVID, there were five tents outside the hospital. “We’ve only brought back two of them,” he pointed out, “and those are serving as overflow waiting areas for the emergency department. There won’t be anything in the tents but chairs. This is to allow us to provide adequate social distancing for patients and the people who come with them.”

Rowley confirmed that some residents who test positive for the coronavirus are treated at home and never become patients inside the hospital. Whether or not they are checked into the medical center for treatment is largely the decision of their primary physician.

“I am not a doctor, so I don’t have all the answers,” he emphasized, “but basically the doctor of the patient takes a look at their symptoms and determines whether they need to be an ICU patient, an in-patient, or if it is at a level where it can be treated in their own home. That’s left up to the doctor and the patient.”

Rowley also said that he could not give an answer or a professional opinion as to why the number of positive cases has increased recently. When patients are admitted, hospital officials do not inquire whether they’ve recently traveled or if they’ve taken part in protests or any other such gatherings.

“We don’t ask those questions,” he stated. “At some point, the Department of Public Health will start doing some analysis of the patient, and they may ask those questions at that time. But how they got it does not affect how we treat them.”

According to Rowley, the length of time that the tents will remain outside of the facility will be determined on a day-to-day basis as they move forward. “A few weeks back, the numbers had gotten way down,” he mentioned. “That’s when we took the tents down. They stayed low for a while, and then they started creeping back up again, so the tents are available for the overflow capacity. Once we start to see that they aren’t necessary anymore, we will take them down again.”

In seeing the hospital make moves and changes, Rowley thought it was important for the public to be well versed about an initiative that has been brought forth by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp; one of which Houston Healthcare is a part.

“It’s called the Georgia Safety Promise Initiative,” Rowley said. “That’s basically where businesses and people are committing to do what they can to keep Georgians safe. Houston Healthcare signed on to be a part of that as well, and it calls for four things. It calls for using face coverings to protect you, and also to protect other people if you have [COVID]. The second is social distancing, and that means maintaining six feet of distancing between you and other people; particularly people you don’t know and don’t live with. Number three is real simple. Just like your mother has been telling you since the day you were born: wash your hands. The last thing that it calls for is cleaning high-touch surfaces. If you’re touching your steering wheel, doorknobs, your computer, your phone—clean those regularly to sanitize them because germs can hang around a long time on those surfaces. Those four items are a part of the Georgia Safety Promise Initiative, and we have signed on and are fully supportive of it, so you’ll see us doing things on an ongoing basis to stay in alignment with it.”

Based on insight shared by Rowley, there are no immediate plans to change the policy currently in place for hospital visitation, but speaking frankly, he added, “I honestly do not know whether that will change in the future or not. We’ll see how the next few days go. If it does change, it’ll probably go back to what it was at the peak somewhere back in April.”

Rowley said that ultimately, it’s all about keeping the distance between sick people and well people so the virus doesn’t spread. “Anytime we have to put those limitations in place,” he added, “We look at it daily so that we can loosen those restrictions as soon as it’s prudent to do so.”

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