YRMC warehouse fully stocked with medical supplies

The hospital says they are prepared because of their proactive ordering of supplies before COVID-19 pandemic

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Many cities across the country, face a shortage of supplies in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC) showed me just how prepared it is to handle the worst.

Trudie Milner is the Vice President of Operations for YRMC.

"So currently we are actively sourcing every resource thats out there were constantly, like everyone, looking for additional supplies. Presently today, we are able to supply the needs of our hospital but it takes continuous and focused effort to do that," said Trudie.

Inside the main supply hub, you'll find racks upon racks of vital supplies and hospital equipment.

The hospital itself and multiple ambulatory centers receive shipments daily, all coming from this off-site building.

“We have implemented a supply center command, a supply chain command center, and the purpose of that is to manage effectively the supplies that we have on hand and to be able to carefully carefully evaluate where we stand with respect to those very critical supplies that are essential for making us able to deliver care to the patients in our community," Trudie added.

Every September, YRMC orders additional supplies needed for flu season. That turned out to be particularly fortunate this year.

Sean Hazlett, the Director of Supply Chain Services for the hospital, explains how YRMC is prepared.

“Proactively, what we do here in the supply chain before the flu season, is we try and increase our pandemic supply list we have about 25 items that we consider pandemic supplies. Which includes IV solutions, masks, gowns, gloves, things of that nature that are needed during flu season. So we usually start in the September time period to stock up in advance so we have enough supplies available,” he said.

I'm told it takes dedicated planning to stay ahead of the unknown.

“When you think about what might happen in terms of increase volume of patients. Its essential that we continue on a daily basis to monitor what supplies we have and to avail ourselves of all available resources that are out there,” Trudie continues.

But there's more than supplies from vendors and government stockpiles in this warehouse. There are also gifts from the community.

Trudie says, “We’ve been fortunate. Our school district has stepped up, helped us providing us with Clorox wipes, disinfecting wipes. Hand sanitizer and with school being out now they’re able to give that to us. That's really important. Really collecting up those items of donations that the community has provided."

As each delivery reaches it's destination, these urgent deliveries are unloaded to fill the hands that heal.