Frequently Asked Questions
Community Engagement Virtual Meeting - Thursday, August 6
Question #1: What are the current numbers?
Question #2: TESTING
- a) Are we seeing any relief regarding testing result timeframes?
- b) One area of concern regarding testing has been in our rural communities.
- c) During last week’s town hall, there were several community members
who were confused about the retesting and the CDC’s guidelines that
do not require a negative test for employees to go back to work. Can you
clarify those guidelines and why are other organizations requiring their
employees to have negative tests if the hospital isn’t?
Question #3: MEDICATIONS
- a) Gary mentioned last week that our supply of Remdesivir is low. Has that
changed? Should we be concerned that our hospital will run out of the drug?
Question #4: SURGE PLANS
- a) Gary has talked often about Kaweah Delta’s surge plans and has
gone into detail about the areas we have restricted for COVID. Have we
moved COVID positive patient from our downtown facility? If so, where
have we moved them to?
- b) Do those who have COVID and are taken to REHAB have to qualify for rehab?
- c) Is Kaweah Delta experiencing an outbreak?
- d) How is Sierra View Hospital doing?
- e) Didn’t Sequoia Rehab in Porterville have an outbreak?
- f)Do we partner at all with Community Regional at all?
Question #5: STAFF
- a) What is the best way the community can support the front line staff
working hard right now?
- b) How is leadership helping staff members that are experiencing virus
fatigue? How is leadership dealing with virus fatigue?
- c) Can you give us a summary of the Military Personnel that are here?
- d) Are we doing grief counseling?
Question #6: What would Kaweah Delta be at as far as total adult beds available
say the first week of August in a normal year?
Question #7: How many total tests have been done at Kaweah Delta?
Question #8: Can we get COVID only information?
Question #9: Any word on breaking down the 0-19 age group into the same
increments as the rest? 0-9, 10-19, 20-29, and so on?
Question #10: There was a ABC 30 news story earlier this week that our
State and County are reporting figures lower than what they should be.
Are you aware of this story and is there any truth to it?
Question #11: How many patients placed in ICU on a ventilator have recovered
and been released? How does this compare with a statewide average?
Questions and Answers from the August 6 Community Engagement Virtual Meeting
Question #1: CURRENT NUMBERS
CURRENT NUMBERS?
Positive cases in County
9,885
Positive cases in hospital Today
74 patients in house. ICU has 10 patients, 16 in ICCU, M/S has 47 patients,
then one positive in M/B. 3,070 positive tests by KDH since March. Hospital
changes daily, recent average about 65. Was as high as 91.
Deaths in County
193
Recovered Cases
7,025 in the county
Positive Employees
282 (doubled in July); 189 recovered, 93 on LOA, 6 of which are hospitalized
Positivity Rate
County is at 16.7%
Hospital Census
291 census this morning, ICU 32 of 41 beds filled
**https://covid19.tularecounty.ca.gov/
Question #2: TESTING
TESTING
Are we seeing any relief regarding testing result timeframes?
No, it is probably a little worse with commercial being close to three
weeks in some instances. As we work to increase our KD testing ability
we will send fewer out to commercial labs. The supply is so unstable and
unpredictable at this time across the County. County turnaround is 48
hours, Kaweah Delta is 24 hours, and commercial labs are up to three weeks.
Why? Chances are it is a staffing shortage and facilities do not have
enough scientists to run the analyzers.
One area of concern regarding testing has been in our rural communities. There have been a lot of local news stories on this recently Can you explain
what KD is doing right now to work with those areas? Even if we make testing
more accessible, will the County be able to keep up with the demands of
running those specimens?
Quidel testing with at our three KDH clinics in Lindsay, Exeter, and Dinuba
should be available within the next 4-6 weeks. We will be able to complete
more tests in house and support the county volumes. The county has been
working extremely hard to increase their ability to test and meet the
growing demands.
During last week’s town hall, there were several community members
who were confused about the retesting and the CDC’s guidelines that
do not require a negative test for employees to go back to work.Can you
clarify those guidelines and why are other organizations requiring their
employees to have negative tests if the hospital isn’t?
There are three options for recovery: test with negatives (PCR can sense
dead virus), no more symptoms, enough time has gone by. Kaweah Delta has
gone with symptom or time-based strategy to allow people to get back to work.
Question #3: MEDICATIONS
MEDICATIONS
Gary mentioned last week that our supply of Remdesivir is low.Has that
changed?Should we be concerned that our hospital will run out of the drug?
We are using Remdesivir and Prednisone or Methylprenisolone. We have access
to those drugs and have patients that have had good outcomes. Last week
we were low on Remdesivir, but this week we received our shipment and
are good for now. It is given by the federal government and we never know
when we will be given more. The drug is one part of a group of interventions
used for COVID - and they have all shown benefit. The allocation from
the federal government is based on need. We do have enough Remdesivir
supply to meet the needs for inpatients right now. Patients who have recovered
from COVID have the antibody so blood banks are able to take the antibodies
and use that blood to fight COVID infections and we give that to patients
in the ICU. Plasma is in short supply.
Question #4: SURGE PLANS
SURGE PLANS
Gary has talked often about Kaweah Delta’s surge plans and has gone
into detail about the areas we have restricted for COVID.Have we moved
COVID positive patient from our downtown facility?If so, where have we
moved them to?
Yes, we moved the first COVID patient to the Porterville Developmental
Center on Monday. Our West Campus has a COVID care unit. Three of the
skilled nursing facilities in the county have started accepting COVID
positive patients. We have not had to set up acute care services at an
alternate site yet. We have not sent anyone to South Campus yet.
Do those who have COVID and are taken to REHAB have to qualify for rehab?
No, we can send any patient to Rehab who has COVID. The patients we have
sent there do actually qualify but we can send any patient there.
Is Kaweah Delta experiencing an outbreak?
An outbreak is 11 or more patients. Not yet.
How is Sierra View Hospital doing?
Their numbers were high they had to convert conference rooms and we were
ready to help. We are in conversations daily to help if needed. We are
still accepting transfers in.
Didn’t Sequoia Rehab in Porterville have an outbreak?
They did a while back but if it was recently, we don’t know about
it. They have been working through COVID in their building. Redwood Springs
has been working hard and has been designated by the State to take COVID
positive patients.
Do we partner at all with Community Regional at all?
We collaborate with leaders and through the California Association. They
did call and ask about our PPE use.
Question #5: STAFF
STAFF
What is the best way the community can support the front line staff working
hard right now?
Units love reading cards and posters of support, they always love food
(individually packaged), hand-made masks and hair bonnets are always coveted.
Also encourage physical distancing and wearing masks with your family
and friends. This definitely will help keep census under control and keep
the community healthy. If you know a health care worker, reach out to
check on them and tell them thank you. Those words of encouragement go
a long way.
How is leadership helping staff members that are experiencing virus fatigue?How
is leadership dealing with virus fatigue?
Encouraging short periods of time off. Resiliency quotes. Frequent rounding
and listening. Regular group calls with Q/A opportunities. Regular communication
to decrease issues with rapid change. Working more on recruitment and
hiring to increase staffing.
Can you give us a summary of the Military Personnel that are here?
They are hopefully staying. We requested an extension of the DOD as they
do 30-day increments. We are waiting for the official contract to be signed
to keep the 21 employees they sent.
Are we doing grief counseling?
We have our Chaplains group who are trained in grief counseling. We have
access to counseling as well through our employee benefits. If people
ask for help of course we will help them. Managers spend a lot of one-on-one
time listening, helping, and answering questions.
Question #6: What would KDH be at as far as total adult beds available
say the first week of August in a normal year?
What would KDH be at as far as total adult beds available say the first
week of August in a normal year?
Complicated answer; typically we are at 80-85% capacity through August.
Question #7: How many total tests have been done at Kaweah Delta?
How many total tests have been done at Kaweah Delta?
Over 23,000
Question #8: There was a ABC 30 news story earlier this week that our State
and County are reporting figures lower than what they should be. Are you
aware of this story and is there any truth to it?
Question #9: How many patients placed in ICU on a ventilator have recovered
and been released?
How many patients placed in ICU on a ventilator have recovered and been
released? The rumor is that all ICU patients have died.
Some patients pass away after having been in the ICU on a ventilator, but
definitely, and thankfully, not all patients. Many patients do come off
the ventilator and recover. We will work on getting specific numbers to
you for next week. It is valuable to have concrete numbers so we will
work on that.
Question #10: Can we get COVID only information?
Can we get COVID only information?
People who are healthy and don’t need to take meds for other diagnosis,
usually have an easier time fighting off COVID if they get it. If a person
has a comorbidity such as diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, on dialysis,
COVID will make that comorbidity worse. A person normally does not die
from COVID only, they die from the complications that COVID adds to their
other conditions.