Jackson Health has a hospital sitting empty in case a coronavirus surge hits Miami
In the worst-case scenario of a massive surge of patients infected by the novel coronavirus, Miami’s public hospital says it’s much better prepared than it would have been if county voters had not approved an $830 million “miracle” bond issue in 2013.
Aside from shortages of personal protective gear like N95 respirator masks, public health experts and healthcare professionals across the country have sounded alarms about hospital bed space and intensive care unit capacity for facilities likely to see a wave of patients suffering from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in the coming weeks.
At Jackson Health System, Miami-Dade’s safety-net hospital, more than five years of supercharged capital spending has left the healthcare network more flexible in its capacity, which could be crucial as it prepares to deal with a potential surge, hospital leaders said this week.
One of the most visible examples: After Jackson built a new rehabilitation facility, its old rehabilitation hospital was supposed to be demolished. But the novel coronavirus delayed plans for that demolition, and the building sits empty, awaiting a use hospital officials still hope won’t be necessary, even as the county’s confirmed COVID-19 case totals climb well over 100.
Justin Senior, CEO of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida, said Miami-Dade County “has found itself in a very good position because they made these particular investments.”
“If there is a surge ... space is going to be at a premium, and it’s really important that you be able to treat the people that are victims of the epidemic while also being able to treat the rest of the population, and handle a much larger patient load than you otherwise would,” Senior said.
Aside from the empty rehabilitation hospital, Jackson Health has in the last six years spent bond money on several relevant investments: renovated and expanded intensive care units at Jackson South; a nearly-complete renovation of its emergency department at Jackson North and equipment purchases across the system, such as ventilators and intensive care unit monitors.
Carlos Migoya, Jackson Health’s CEO, said the system’s expanded capacity, upgraded equipment and infrastructure improvements over the last few years will set the public hospital on a stronger footing as it braces to fight the novel coronavirus.
“When we rallied for the bond in 2013, we wanted to ensure that Jackson could continue to be a beacon for our community for another generation,” Migoya said. “Now, as we tackle this public health crisis, those investments are proving to be money well spent.”
If a surge does come, we likely won’t know about it for at least a week, said Mark Lipsitch, a leading epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He added that Florida’s demographics, which skew older, leave it vulnerable to a rush on hospital capacity.
“One of the very clear lessons learned from Italy and China and other places that have been hit hard is that there is a long delay, between three or four weeks, between implementing control measures and seeing a downturn in the need for ICU,” Lipsitch said on a call with reporters Friday. “Infection leads to the need for ICU two to four weeks from now.”
Miami-Dade Commissioner Rebeca Sosa, a champion of the county’s public hospital, said that delaying demolition of the old rehabilitation hospital, which has the capacity for about 50 beds, was a great idea.
Sosa added that Jackson Memorial Hospital has more negative pressure rooms, used to prevent cross contamination, than most hospitals, which would also be a crucial backstop if a wave of highly infectious patients arrived at the medical campus.
“We have a hospital that saves lives every day, that has the best doctors, nurses, equipment, and has the ability to respond to an emergency like the one we’re going through,” Sosa said. “The public can see that the trust they placed in Jackson when they voted for it — now the community can get the results.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 4:59 PM.
