YRMC preps for possible surge in Coronavirus cases

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - It’s all about preparedness and readiness here at Yuma Regional Medical Center.

YRMC is creating a Registered Nurse Resource Deployment Command Center. This is not a physical place. It’s a team readily available for a potential surge in coronavirus cases.

The hospital is identifying nurses and staff in departments outside of the emergency room and I-c-u.

Nurses are trained on daily tasks they would not normally do, in their department.

The command center comes into play if there is a surge of coronavirus patients.

The hospital tells us there are multiple tiered trigger points based on nurse to patient ratios.

Sarah Medrano is the Medical Director of the RN Resource Deployment Command Center.

“We want to be more proactive… when we see that we’ve exhausted the resources in the hospital as far as nurses and we see the nurse to patient ratio starts to increase. That is when we would deploy the command center."

I asked if we were there yet and Medrano replied, "no, we’re not there yet.”

YRMC says, they are fortunate to have so much time to better prepare for the potential surge. unlike other hospitals across the country.

Coming up tonight at 10PM: Hear from a nurse ready to hit the frontlines and treat patients in Yuma.