News
Joondalup Health Campus rises to the COVID-19 challenge
May 19, 2020
On March 30, Joondalup Health Campus in Perth’s northern suburbs was called on to accept 30 COVID-positive patients from the beleaguered cruise ship, the Artania, which was alongside at Fremantle Port.
At that point, the hospital’s COVID-19 clinic had been operational for five days, the hospital had three COVID-19 positive inpatients – at least one from another cruise ship - and a raft of strategies had been put in place to prepare for the pandemic.
Even with the work undertaken, it was a big ask to quickly accommodate so many very unwell the patients arriving from the Artania. At a total of 33 COVID-19 positive patients in the hospital, it was thought to be the biggest single cohort in any Australian hospital at the time.
There were other challenges not just related to the pandemic: Most of the patients from the Artania were aged over 70, and very few spoke English – most were from Germany, and some were ship’s crew from the Philippines and Indonesia.
At least one patient had been ventilated prior to being evacuated from the cruise vessel. After arrival at Joondalup Health Campus, two were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit and one to the High Dependency Unit. The rest were admitted to wards that had been specially prepared with negative pressure to reduce the risk of infection spreading throughout the hospital.
Two of the 30 patients from the Artania sadly passed away, and our thoughts are with their families. Most recovered and at the time of writing, one remains in hospital undergoing rehabilitation in preparation for repatriation to Munich.
The patients who have spoken publicly have roundly praised the compassion and expertise of the WA staff, who supported them in providing everything from interpreters to help them understand complex medical issues, to providing clothing for them to wear.
The response from the hospital was immense.
A PPE committee was created to distribute equipment accordingly to ensure everyone who needed it had ready access. Training on the appropriate use of PPE was rapidly rolled out to a wide range of staff, which helped alleviate staff anxiety.
Cleaning requirements more than doubled for the COVID-19 designated wards where cleaners worked in pairs and were supervised by a PPE expert to ensure they were safe at all times.
Laundry was collected in dissolvable bags to reduce handling, and the volume increased dramatically as the need to wash scrubs and bedding increased.
Four theatres at the end of the theatre complex were designated a “COVID pod”, and the hospital was quickly rearranged to create a designated COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit.
For Acting CEO Amanda Ling, the way the hospital staff worked together was proof the Ramsay Way – the unique approach our organisation takes to challenges with patient outcomes at the heart – is critical.
“It was asking a lot of the staff, and they were brilliant,” she said.