Hospital, health foundation respond to pandemic

PALMER — Mat-Su Regional Medical Center CEO David Wallace and Mat-Su Health Foundation CEO Elizabeth Ripley gave an update on preparation and response by the Mat-Su health care community to the coronavirus.

“I want to assure everyone that we are well prepared to support the COVID 19 patients who may need specialized care by our hospital while continuing to provide medical care for all of outpatients and protect the safety of our team,” said Wallace.

Wallace said that 118 people had been tested for coronavirus at MSRMC and 94 of those results had come back negative with 24 tests still pending. Wallace detailed the thoughtful, organized preparation specific to coronavirus that had been underway for weeks and thanked Dr. Tom Quimby who has headed up the COVID 19 taskforce at MSRMC. Wallace said that health care providers at MSRMC are stockpiling additional donations of personal protective equipment such as masks, gowns and facemasks.

“We feel prepared to deal with significant influx and we’re continuing to work on an additional phased approach to create additional negative pressure treatment areas,” said Wallace.

A total of four testing facilities have been stood up to deal with the demand for COVID 19 testing in the Mat-Su Valley, which saw the fourth positive test for coronavirus on Wednesday with a positive test out of Wasilla. A drive-in location at the Urgent Care on Crusey Street has been added along with the Lake Lucille Urgent Care. Capstone and MSRMC have been providing testing for weeks.

“We don’t yet in our community have the number of tests that we feel comfortable just opening that up to anybody who wants to be swabbed. There is a triage process that people have to go though,” said Wallace.

Wallace said that MSRMC has tripled the amount of negative pressure rooms and are no longer accepting ambulances through the ambulance bay. Instead, ambulances are being dropped off outside and the ambulance bay has been set up as a negative pressure area for the possible treatment of COVID 19 patients. Wallace said that many protocols are in place to protect residents and that patients with underlying respiratory issues or symptoms consistent with COVID 19 are being treated in separate areas. During the end of the press conference, Wallace was asked how many ventilators MSRMC has. Wallace said he hesitated to give an exact answer, but that the hospital had increased their previous capacity of 11 ventilators.

“I can tell you we have a number of ventilators that is sufficient to deal with an influx, even now and if it should get worse. We are working on supply and it’s changing by the day to our favor,” said Wallace.

Following Wallace, Ripley provided an update on the charitable work that MSHF has been conducting amid the coronavirus outbreak. Ripley said that the MSHF has stood up a COVID 19 prevention and response grant fund and dispersed $380,000 in just over a week, including a $50,000 grant to Santa Cop to help provide 203 boxes of food for seniors.

“We are so very incredibly fortunate to have such high functioning, expert and caring professionals looking out for the safety, health, and welfare of our citizens,” said Ripley. “We are standing as we give this press conference on the traditional lands of the Ahtna and Dena’ina peoples who inhabited this land long before us and who were affected by past invasive diseases and for whom this is especially difficult.”

Ripley encouraged residents to support nonprofits, as 12 percent of the Mat-Su Valley economy is made up of nonprofits, accounting for 17,000 jobs and over $89 million in payroll. Ripley applauded the work of grant recipient Kids Kupbaord, who has helped to deliver meals to families that the Mat-Su Borough School District cannot reach. The MSHF has also provided grants to the Mat-Su Senior Center, the Children’s Place and True North Recovery who provides peer support for substance abuse. Not only has the COVID 19 pandemic added stress on nonprofits, but also families.

“Unfortunately we know that when females are stressed, the incidents of child maltreatment rise in our community and the incidents of domestic violence rise and we’ve already seen that rise. Our Domestic Violence shelter run by AFS is full and they’ve had to seek alternative housing placements for women who are being victimized because families are economically stressed, and then we all realize the stress of this virus that has put on our daily lives and so we’ve seen those incidents of Domestic Violence rise significantly already here in the Mat-Su,” said Ripley. “It takes all of us to prevent this Domestic Violence and this child maltreatment and it is very real for our community so I really would like that call to action to be heard loud and far and wide.”

Ripley encouraged those seeking nonprofits to donate to or request services from visit the United Way Mat-Su website for their services handbook. Ripley also applauded the work of the sewing army that has mobilized to make masks in the Mat-Su Valley.

“We will get through this together. We are strong, we are resilient, we are innovative and although we are apart, we will work very hard to stay connected,” said Ripley.

Support local journalism. By subscribing you help local journalism continue to thrive. For our latest digital subscription information, see frontiersman.com/site/forms/subscription_services/