A tent to handle overflow COVID-19 patients is back outside SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia. Photo by Pat Hodges.
As the number of COVID-19 grows, the large tents that were erected at the beginning of the pandemic in the spring have returned at both SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia and Good Samaritan Hospital in Mt. Vernon.
The President of St. Mary’s Hospital Damon Harbison says the tent is a portion of their surge plan for St. Mary’s Hospital that was developed to ensure appropriate resources for surges. He says they will be utilizing the space as overflow for ill patients arriving at the Emergency Department with COVID like symptoms.
Harbison notes the community is seeing a surge in positive cases, but the hospital has been able to keep up with demand from the community. He says the strategic placement of the tent outside the emergency room entrance and the timing of the placement is proactive problem solving from the SSM Health Southern Illinois Incident Command.
The tents are provided by ILEAS, the Illinois Emergency Alarm System.
The tent at St. Mary’s came from Chicago. The tent that had been at the hospital earlier in the pandemic but taken down without being used was later moved to Harrisburg. The tent was put up by members of the Centralia and Mt. Vernon Fire Department as well as assistance from Cook County officials who delivered the tent and members of the hospital’s plant operation staff.
Wider view of the new tent in place to treat overflow COVID-19 patients at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital. Photo by Pat Hodges.
