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COVID-19 Field Hospital To Be Constructed At Caldwell UNC Healthcare In Lenoir
COVID-19 Field Hospital To Be Constructed At Caldwell UNC Healthcare In Lenoir
December 31, 2020
Samaritan’s Purse will begin the construction of a 30-bed, emergency field hospital on the grounds of Caldwell UNC Health Care in Lenoir, Friday (January 1). The unit will provide regional COVID-19 care support, assisting five health systems in western North Carolina. Those systems are Caldwell UNC Health Care, Appalachian Regional Health Care in Boone, Catawba Valley Health System in Hickory, Carolinas Healthcare System Blue Ridge in Morganton, and Frye Regional Medical Center in Hickory.
The Caldwell UNC site was chose for the field hospital due to its central location and ability to provide support services. Patients receiving treatment at the field hospital will be limited to those who are COVID-positive but do not need the support of a ventilator.
Michael McDonald sat in a gray chair dressed in purple scrubs, a gray T-shirt, a blue medical hairnet and a blue medical mask on Tuesday. The room at Catawba Valley Medical Center was silent.
Anna Seagle, a registered pharmacist, prepared a needle, then pulled a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from a bottle into the syringe as McDonald watched. He rolled up his sleeve. She wiped his arm, then stuck the needle in.
The room erupted in applause and cheers. It was the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine administered in Catawba County.
The day was exciting for medical professionals who have been battling the COVID-19 pandemic for months, said Dr. Phil Greene, chief of staff at Catawba Valley Medical Center.
The first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Catawba County was administered Tuesday to a frontline health worker at Catawba Valley Medical Center.
Catawba Valley Health System was among 11 hospitals in North Carolina to receive the earliest shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which was approved for emergency use on Saturday.
Three hospitals received their doses on Monday and eight on Tuesday, Gov. Roy Cooper said during a press briefing Tuesday. The remaining 42 hospitals slated to receive allotments of the stateâs first shipment of the vaccine will get their doses on Thursday. Frye Regional Medical Center is slated to receive 975 doses, the same number as CVMC.