Prisma Health North Greenville Hospital will transition to a dedicated facility for potential COVID-19 patients

GREENVILLE, SC—To help the community better cope with the increasing  number of potential patients with COVID-19, Prisma Health is transitioning its Prisma Hospital North Greenville Hospital into a dedicated facility for the care of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients.

Prisma Health hospitals in the Midlands and Upstate will continue to care for potential and confirmed COVID-19 patients. But the transition of North Greenville Hospital into a dedicated facility will give Prisma Health additional capacity if it’s needed.

“We hope it’s not needed, but we want it to be available if we see that it’s necessary,” said C. Wendell James III, MD, chief clinical officer for Prisma Health-Upstate. “We already had extensive disaster preparedness plans in place, and we have continued to aggressively strengthen them since January when the outbreak first began globally.”
“We want our communities to know that we’re ready – and prepared to meet the need,” said James.

Patients in North Greenville Hospital’s Long Term Acute Care area were moved to Prisma Health Baptist Easley Hospital starting Sunday afternoon, with patients in North Greenville Hospital’s ICU moved to comparable intensive-care units at other Prisma Health locations in the Upstate. Long Term Acute Care physicians, nurses, therapists and wound-care specialists moved with each patient to provide continuity of care and help with the transition.

“Preparing patients and families for moving to a new facility was met with support from all,” said Rebecca Cooper, community and customer relations coordinator. “They were grateful for the proactive process to care for our patients and the concern for the impact of COVID-19 on the greater community. Before the process began, we worked with all patients and families.”

All Prisma Health hospitals have negative pressure rooms already in place, with the capability to add rooms as necessary.

Teams are now modifying North Greenville Hospital’s Long Term Acute Care into several negative-pressure units, which will essentially make each unit its own negative-pressure isolation area to prevent spread of the virus.

Like other hospitals across the system, stringent protocols followed by specially-trained team members will help ensure the safety and protection of patients and their caregivers. The area housing the potential COVID-19 patients will be isolated from the rest of the facility and will use a separate entrance.

The Emergency Department and outpatient services (including lab, radiology, ultrasound) at North Greenville Hospital will remain open to the community.

Prisma Health continues to urge patients to use its Prisma Health Virtual Visits, which is free for anyone seeking care for potential COVID-19. It includes a new on-demand video option in addition to the existing online visit option. To access the free virtual visits, use payment code COVID19 at PrismaHealth.org/VirtualVisit.

For more information about COVID-19 and Prisma Health’s continued response, visit PrismaHealth.org/Coronavirus.