IVC care site continues to be important safety valve
IMPERIAL — While Imperial Valley College will be utilizing distance learning for about 90 percent of its courses for the 2020-21 school year, its gym will continue to be used for treating local COVID-19 patients.
Since May 25, IVC’s gym, the DePaoli Sports Complex, has been established as an alternative care site (ACS) for COVID patients.
County health guidelines have already barred any in-person physical education classes from being held in the gym in the fall; however, there has yet to be a deactivation date announced for the site.
It continues to operate based on a month-tomonth evaluation. It was previously set to close the week of July 1.
However, on July 1, the state’s Office of Emergency Services reactivated the site (formally referred to as the Imperial Field Medical Site), as well as three other ACSs in the state, after seeing an increase in COVID hospitalizations over a seven-day period.
The IVC ACS expands the local capacity available, and supports acute care, for COVID patients. It was also set up to decompress the local hospitals so they could continue to care for sicker patients.
As of Tuesday, the site has treated 177 patients, Brawley Fire Department Chief Mike York stated during Tuesday’s Brawley City Council meeting.
Also as of Tuesday, the site had a current census of seven patients.
“Which is good news,” York said. The fire chief previously reported that the site’s census on July 7 was 11 patients.
The site continues to play a critical role in the effort of both local hospitals attempting to decrease their number of patient transfers to elsewhere in the state.
The number of out-ofcounty patient transfers, while it is high, has recently decreased.
As of July 7, 526 COVID patients had been transported out of Imperial County for treatment.
On Tuesday, York reported that, according to the local EMS agency, out-of-county transfers have decreased.
“That’s a result of both of our hospitals increasing their capacity, as well as just the acuity of the patients has changed,” York said.
For the IVC ACS, which continues to receive transfers from both local hospitals, the fire chief explained the average length of stay for each patient there is about three days.
The majority of patients have successfully been discharged home after their stays at the site.
“So, basically, we calculated that 500 bed days for the hospital (Pioneers Memorial Hospital) have been saved by having that alternative care site in service,” York said.
The site is equipped with 80 beds to provide acute care for stable, low-acuity COVID-positive patients who require ongoing professional care.
“[Lower acuity patients are] patients that may not meet the criteria for being in a hospital, but may not be quite prepared to go home,” the fire chief said. “Or patients that, going home, would present other difficulties.”
However, after the July 1 reactivation, the level of care at the site has been upgraded, and it can now see patients with higher acuity, he reported.