Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Public Health Department. Rush was among the first Chicago hospitals to designate beds for infected patients and among the first to envision the surge and plan accordingly, said Dr. The hospital had its first COVID-19 patient test positive March 4, but it was already prepared for such an eventuality. Purim-Shem-Tov said “a couple” emergency department nurses have contracted the virus, but no attending physicians have tested positive thus far. He declined to confirm how many employees have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. Staff members showing signs of illness are placed on paid furlough until their conditions improve, Rush spokesman Tobin Klinger said. ![]() Those with fevers - including employees - are not allowed to enter. Most employees move about with extraordinarily dry-looking hands, as if testifying to the incompatibility of constant hand-washing and Chicago’s chilly spring weather.Īnyone who comes into the medical complex first must have their temperature taken and grab a surgical mask. The 14-story building smells of newly wiped countertops and hand sanitizer. Still, the fight against the virus is evident. Neither visitors nor staff are allowed to congregate, so some parts of the medical center have a quiet, empty feel that belies the sense of urgency with which everyone works. Unlike the chaotic scenes playing out in images from hospitals in New York and Italy, the Rush corridors were calm and the staff seemingly calmer. The latter has expanded by 50% as the number of COVID-19 cases statewide has climbed to more than 15,000. On Tuesday, the medical center allowed a Tribune reporter and photographer inside its emergency department and intensive care units. “So we are seeing a lot of people in our critical care area." ![]() “We have been pretty aggressive in making sure we’re there to support those hospitals and those patients,” Casey said. Some of those hospitals sent ventilators along with their patients to help Rush cope with the onslaught. Paul Casey, the hospital’s acting chief medical officer. Many of the patients have been transferred to Rush from local hospitals that didn’t have the ability to care for them, said Dr. And 1 of every 20 people hospitalized because of the virus in Illinois is being treated there. According to the hospital, its intensive care unit has roughly 25% of all COVID-19 patients on ventilators statewide. That forethought has landed Rush on the front lines of the region’s fight against the coronavirus.
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