Garden Park Medical Center has announced that all staff and providers in all patient care areas throughout the hospital will now wear masks, expanding their use beyond suspected or positive COVID cases.
Masks will be optional only for staff in non-patient care areas who can consistently maintain social distancing of at least six feet, aside from brief, necessary interactions with colleagues.
“Our top priority is protecting our patients, clinicians, nurses and colleagues so we can best serve our communities through the duration of this pandemic,” said Randy Rogers, Garden Park’s CEO “These new guidelines apply to all areas of our hospital, not just those where suspected COVID or COVID-positive patients are being treated. While social distancing is a key strategy for interrupting the spread of coronavirus, we know it is difficult to maintain in the busy patient care environment.
“Also, the latest analysis of our parent company, HCA Healthcare’s, ability to meet the demand for additional use of masks gives us confidence that we are prepared to address our needs here in the Gulfport area. Even though Garden Park currently has adequate supplies of personal protective equipment, we will continue to take steps to conserve PPE, including reuse and reprocessing of PPE, where appropriate.”
Garden Park is now utilizing three types of masks, depending on the clinical role, the type of care the patient is receiving, and the level of suspicion for infection with COVID-19.
o Level I “Procedure” Masks: For all staff not needing higher levels of protection. These masks can also be used for caring for suspected or COVID-positive patients when paired with a full-face shield.
o Level 3 Masks: For additional protection from fluids and droplets, and for use by staff caring directly for suspected COVID or COVID-positive patients, except when performing aerosolized procedures like intubation, nebulization, bronchoscopy or suctioning.
o N-95 Respirators: For staff caring for suspected COVID or COVID-positive patients. This is the only mask used during procedures like intubation, nebulization, bronchoscopy or suctioning.
As this crisis evolves, Garden Park will continue to evolve its processes to meet the challenges. Since January, the hospital has been continually monitoring PPE usage, carefully analyzing and implementing the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration for best PPE practices.
HCA Healthcare’s supply chain has continually worked with its epidemiologists and data scientists to track usage and anticipated demand to allocate stocks appropriately to its family of hospitals, including Garden Park, even as it works around the clock to safeguard existing supplies and secure additional shipments.
For up-to-date information during the COVID-19 outbreak from Garden Park Medical Center, visit GardenParkMedical.com.