Hospitals rush to get supplies ahead of surge

Hospitals across the state are scrambling to obtain supplies for what could be a tsunami of coronavirus patients in the next few weeks — and hoping those supplies can be found.

Josh Geballe, commissioner of the state Department of Administrative Services, said the state is working overtime on a “surge” plan, including forming a task force comprised of experts in various fields to look at supplies and capacity.

Those supplies include the masks, gowns and shields needed to protect medical workers and the ventilators, beds and staff needed to treat what could be more than 50,000 patients over a short period of time.

“We have a team that working on our hospital surge plan to inspect and source additional spaces we may want to use, such as nursing homes that recently closed,” Geballe said on Thursday.

“There is a global shortage of personal protection equipment and sanitizers,” Geballe added. “Some hospitals are fine right now and many are getting dangerously short. Everybody is in the same boat here.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn, on Thursday gathered union officials and health care workers to push a bill that would force President Donald Trump to use the

national Defense Procurement Act to produce the needed supplies.

“I got a call from one of Connecticut’s largest hospital about swabs,” Murphy said.

“They were told the next batch won’t be delivered because they are running out of supplies,” Murphy explained, adding that meant the hospital was unsure if it could test for COVID-19.

“The private sector supply chain has broken down,” Murphy said. “Supply is not going where it’s needed; it’s heading to places where money is and where the political connections exist.”

Richard Feifer, vice president of Generis Health Care, which operates nursing homes in Connecticut and 25 other states, said on Thursday the shortfall in medical equipment is serious and it’s not clear where the supplies will come from.

“[There is] a nationwide shortage of protective equipment,” Feifer said. “We have implemented steps to reuse face masks.

At this moment, we have what we need to protect staff. But this is not a sustainable situation. We are concerned.”

Shortages everywhere

John Cappiello, a spokesman for Bridgeport Hospital, an affiliate of the Yale New Haven Hospital system, said all hospitals are facing the same challenge.

“We are in the same situation and we are working with the Connecticut Hospital Association on supplies and Yale New Haven Health and its vendors,” Cappiello said.

“We are confident at this point we can meet our needs today,” he said. “If the number of patients requiring critical care rises things may change. If numbers increase, and we can expect the numbers to go up, we will need more help.”

Richard Trumka, president of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, said efforts to increase production of PPE is not working.

“Building trades are sending masks from construction sites,” Trumka said. “We shouldn’t have to do these types of things.”

Geballe said the state is receiving some supplies from the private sector, such as infrared thermometers, gloves, masks and sanitizers.

“We have now placed 14 orders for $14.9 million in supplies,” Geballe said. “We are chasing private procurement, donations and the Strategic National Supply.”

“We desperately need more,” Geballe said. “We do we know we need more respirators, ventilators and surge capacity. We are aggressively pursuing those supplies.”

Hartford Hospital this week struck a lease with Trinity College to place a temporary arena inside a 3,400-seat sports arena on campus.

National help

Murphy said the procurement act can be used to direct industry to produce items such as ventilators, masks and other equipment.

The federal government puts up the money to make sure the production is completed in a timely manner.

“It’s time for the president to take control of the supply chain for critical

medical supplies,” Murphy said. “Right now, the private sector supply chain encourages hording and price gouging.”

Sen Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn, echoed Murphy’s call.

“If you talk to the head of Hartford Hospital, he will tell you how they are scrounging from one hospital to the other,” Blumenthal said.

Dana Marname, a spokeswoman for Greenwich Hospital, which is the closest to the virus epicenter in New York City, said the facility has a “surge” plan.

“While recognizing there is national uncertainty around long-term supplies, we are working closely with our clinical leadership to finalize detailed plans to ensure appropriate staff and equipment needs are met as patient volumes increase,” Marname said.

Some health care facilities are turning to donations to fill the void.

State Sens. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, and Will Haskell, D-Westport, on Thursday praised the Ardent Displays and Packaging of East Hartford for, in less than a week, designing and beginning to manufacture

face shields for health care workers.

The company, which produces store displays and food packaging, plans to donate 10,000 of the shields to local hospitals and care facilities.

"I was horrified to see an online post over the weekend showing a physician using a plastic bag as a shield over his face," said Donald Budnick, Ardent’s president.

Budnick said he hopes to manufacture 32,000 face shields daily. After the initial donation, he said the shields will be sold to hospitals at cost.

Surge coming

Andie Jodko, a spokeswoman for Stamford Hospital, said the facility is beginning to see a surge in patients.

“Patient and staff safety is our top priority,” Jodko said. “We have the appropriate PPE to keep staff and patients safe, but we are trying to acquire additional and have looked at reusing PPE, and are making those decisions with our experts.”

Jodko said a PPE team is working with nurses and the supply chain to bring in needed items.

She also acknowledged that the hospital is gearing up for the worst.

“We are doing everything we can to prepare,” Jodko said. “We are seeing that is the case for all of our the health care facilities and in New York. It’s becoming harder to procure.”

John Guzzi, a physician at Yale New Haven Hospital emergency unit, wrote in an opinion piece published this week in The Hill that the need far exceeds supplies.

“The Strategic National Stockpile of equipment and medications was created to respond to events such as this, but it is turning out to be embarrassingly insufficient,” Guzzi wrote.

“Our stockpile contains 17 million N95 masks, about 5 million of which are expired,” Guzzi said.

“We need 500 million masks,” Guzzi continued. “These have been ordered but may not arrive for 18 months. We are rationing equipment to a dangerous level, and reusing equipment beyond its intended shelf life, placing health care workers and patients at risk.”