Kootenai | Kootenai Health | Issue 3, 2020

By Andrea Nagel On the top floor of Kootenai Health’s east expansion is the 3 East unit. Originally designed to serve oncology, neurology and general medical patients, it now serves as Kootenai’s COVID-19 unit. On March 17, the brand-new team on 3 East, having only been open for 120 days prior, was asked to transition their unit to care for COVID-19 patients in just 24 hours. “Our Incident Command team knew we needed a dedicated unit for these patients after seeing what was happening in other regions of the country,” said Kim Inman, director of Clinical Services. “A small team of leaders came together and created a plan to flip the unit in 24 hours. There has been tremendous collaboration among every hospital department to make this happen in a safe, effective way.” “We’ve received so much support from the organization from day one,” said Debbie Callins, director of Clinical Services. “Having representatives from our units as well as the medical director of Critical Care on the Incident Command team has been a great benefit to our staff. They feel heard by our leaders, and while some of the decisions have been financially difficult, they’ve made those tough INSIDE Kootenai Health’s COVID-19 Unit Both patients and staff members wear various protective equipment to help prevent spreading COVID-19. 3 East charge nurse Stephanie Hall. 6