WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Driving past Houston Medical Center, you may have seen five Georgia Search and Rescue tents in front of the emergency room at Houston Medical Center.
Houston Healthcare's COO, Dr. Melinda Hartley, said there is no need to panic.
"We've not really seen our big surge here related to coming in through our ER, but we wanted to be prepared, so we wanted to go ahead and put these tents up," said Hartley.
She said right now, the tents are being used for screening patients and determining the priority of a patient's treatment, while also keeping potential COVID-19 patients away from patients who don't have those symptoms, but she said they could be used for treatment if they start to see the numbers in their ER increase.
She says if that happens, patients with symptoms like severe chest pain who would require lots of equipment would be taken inside the hospital. Others with less severe symptoms or those that come in with things like a sprained ankle, could be treated in tents.
Warner Robins Spokesperson Mandy Stella said the hospital requested the Georgia Search and Rescue equipment typically used for natural disasters.
"The hospital thought that two tents would be enough and then as patients started coming in and the need for more was realized, they called us," said Stella.
So, the Warner Robins Fire Department and Houston County EMA came to put up three more tents.
"This is a great example of our community rallying together and meeting the needs of each other in times of crisis," said Stella.
Dr. Hartley said the tents are not being used as a drive-thru testing site.
Government guidelines say testing sites should not be anywhere near the hospital.
"A few weeks back, we had wanted to set something up for drive-thru testing, but there’s just not enough tests out there," said Hartley.
She said they are praying Houston County won't see a surge of COVID-19 patients in the hospitals, but they want to be prepared if that happens.
"What we are doing by putting those tents out there is to be ready when and if that surge happens."
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