WATCH: A Look Inside The Special ICU UPMC Uses To Treat Coronavirus Patients
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- KDKA got a look at UPMC's specially prepared ICU, where beds await coronavirus patients that staff members hope never come.
"The first thing I want you to know is that it's not chaos," says Susan Hoolahan, president of UPMC Passavant Hospital in McCandless. "It's calm and controlled."
The control begins as one enters. Video provided by UPMC shows how employees enter the hospital and undergo a strict screening process.
It begins with a temperature check and some questions, even if you're the hospital's president.
"How do I feel today, have I been sick, have I been around anybody that has been sick or anyone that's known to be COVID positive?" says Hoolahan.
UPMC Passavant has been treating coronavirus patients and multiple, negative pressure units that are ready to treat more.
For now, a 27-patient unit is only sparsely populated, and two more 7-bed units are empty.
Passavant's medical director, Dr. David Rice, says they are prepared for a surge that may never come.
Nonetheless, he says they stand ready. And that requires more than you might imagine.
For instance, one does not just put on an N95 mask and go about their business.
Employees carefully fit the masks and test the seal by seeing if they can detect a sprayed scent. Only if they cannot are they good to go.
In other cases, workers don a full hood and carry their own oxygen supply. These precautions take time, and that's a factor that has to be carefully managed.
"This particular disorder is challenging in how quickly the patients can get worse," says Rice.
He says he's seen patients go from being stable to critically ill in a short amount of time.
That makes staying on top of patients' conditions vital, for both the patients and staff. They never want to be caught off guard if a patient needs to quickly intubate –- a procedure considered high-risk for those performing it.
"You don't want to get to the point where now it's an emergency and now we're scrambling to get into the room, and we run the potential risk of having something be forgotten in regard to protecting the staff," says Rice.
Passavant's leaders say thankfully, Pittsburgh has had the time and has the resources to meet the challenges the crisis has presented.
"Sometimes when you're watching TV and you could really walk away looking at other places, other countries, and think, 'Oh, my goodness, what's happening here locally?' And I just want to reassure that we're well prepared. UPMC has everyone well-prepared," says Hoolahan.
"And heaven forbid," adds Rice, "If they get sick, we'll work our hardest and work our best to make them well. And we will work until the work is done."
