3 East: Call it the Covid wing
Kootenai Health nurses Matt Selander and Kaydah Parker discuss their work on 3 East, the unit designated for patients positive for SARS-CoV-2. Matt is wearing a Controlled Air-Purifying Respirator or CAPR helmet which delivers positive outflow of air at all times. Different staff use different equipment based on need, availability and fit. Photos by Jerome Pollos.
The 3 East unit was transitioned into an isolation unit on July 30. This means staff wear personal protective equipment (PPE) continuously while on the unit. Wearing PPE for an extended time may cause skin break down
Nurse Kaydah Parker carefully removes her N-95 respirator within the doffing area (special area for removing PPE safely). There is a specific order in which all equipment is removed and then discarded or cleaned.
After patients discharge home the vacated rooms are intensely cleaned and disinfected before another patient can be admitted. Tim Dietz mops the floor as part of this “terminal cleaning” process that takes close to an hour to complete.
3 East charge nurse Stephanie Hall cleans a face shield with special disinfecting wipes.
When the photos were taken, Joe had been on the unit close to 30 days. The first five days he required critical-level care.
Nurse Kaydah Parker charts at the computer while caring for her patient. As part of her personal protective equipment, Kaydah is wearing eye protection, an N-95 respirator, gown and gloves. While on the unit, she will wear her gown, mask and eye protection continuously. She changes her gloves with each patient encounter.
Nurse Kaydah Parker helps Joe Jarzabek put on his mask in his room to help prevent transmission of virus particles.
A waiting area on 3 East was repurposed to house N-95 respirators fresh from the sterilizer. After masks have been sterilized they are carefully placed in paper sacks with names hand-written on the outside, awaiting the next shift.
Jennifer Collins will never forget when the third floor of Kootenai Health’s east wing expansion transformed into a COVID-19 isolation unit.
When preparations began, she recalled, “coronavirus” was still a relatively new word in many vocabularies...
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