DCH Coronavirus Update 7-31-20

Fayette Medical Center’s Long Term Care Facility Introduces Mobile Visitation Booth for Its Residents

Yesterday we shared that DCH’s Fayette Medical Center (FMC) had been recognized by Newsweek as one of the best hospitals in the nation. Today we are providing a highlight that helps illustrate why the hospital is so highly regarded in the community.

FMC is a hospital. But it also has an attached Long Term Care Facility (LTC). The residents there love to visit with friends and family, and until COVID-19 hit visits were a regular part of the culture. However, before any COVID-19 visitation mandates were enacted, the care team decided the safest course was to stop all visits.

The residents have made do with phone calls, video chats and seeing family through closed windows. Creative employees and the community have facilitated these alternatives and much more including window visits from the Easter Bunny and a classic car parade. Residents have been grateful, but it hasn’t been the same as in-person visits.

Recently an employee saw a picture of a Plexiglas booth and asked if something like that might work for the Fayette LTC residents. The Facilities Department immediately started researching a design including key safety, size and portability features. The final booth turned out to be 6 feet wide, 4 feet deep and 8 feet tall. A box included in the design holds sanitation supplies that are used between visits.

The new booth fosters more connection as each person can see the other’s full-body and hear more clearly. The booth was used for the first time this week, and it’s already a huge hit with the residents and their loved ones!

Testing and Confirmed Cases

To protect patient privacy, DCH has established a minimum threshold of five for reporting numbers of inpatients with laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19.

DCH internal counts as of 2:20 p.m. on 7/31/20:

• 109 inpatients are being treated for COVID-19.
• 30 inpatients who are positive for COVID-19 are being treated in the ICU.
• 15 who are positive for COVID-19 are on ventilators.
• 2,268 (cumulative) unique positives for COVID-19 tests including results from the ED, triage tent and inpatient. These individuals are not necessarily in the hospital.
• 14,981 (cumulative) unique negatives for COVID-19 at DCH sites.
• 2,930 (cumulative) positive COVID-19 at DCH sites. These individuals are not necessarily in the hospital.
• 19,425 (cumulative) negative tests at DCH sites.
• 554 inpatients (cumulative) who were positive for COVID-19 have been discharged.
• 108 inpatients (cumulative) who were positive for COVID-19 have died at DCH. This is not an indication of the cause of death, only that the individuals were positive for COVID-19 at the time of death.
• 61 Tuscaloosa County residents (cumulative) who were positive for COVID-19 have died (per the Alabama Department of Public Health).