Critical Care Response Team deploys to the Claremore Indian Hospital in Oklahoma

by George Valliere, chief executive officer, Claremore Indian Hospital, Oklahoma City Area IHS

September 4, 2020

The Indian Health Service
announced the formation of a COVID-19 Critical Care Response Team
to provide deployable resources to augment urgent lifesaving medical care to
COVID-19 patients admitted to IHS or tribal hospital emergency department
or inpatient settings. IHS federally and tribally managed hospitals serve
some of the most rural remote areas in the nation, which creates a number
challenges in recruiting, developing, and retaining a dedicated, competent,
and caring workforce. The much needed addition of expert critical care
support assists IHS hospitals in managing the surge in critically ill
patients resulting from the pandemic and provides our most vulnerable
patients the greatest chance of survival. In the event of an urgent need,
the CCRT can rapidly mobilize, usually as soon as within 24-48 hours of the
decision to deploy the team.

On August 3, the CCRT began a 16-day on-site deployment to the
Claremore Indian Hospital
in Oklahoma to provide staff with hands-on clinical education and training
to staff in the delivery of care for critically ill COVID-19 patients. The
team consisted of two registered nurses, a respiratory therapist, and a
physician with extensive training and experience in critical care, and
working on the frontlines with severely ill COVID-19 patients. Claremore
staff received valuable training on managing ventilated patients, prone
therapy for ventilated and non-ventilated patients, as well as other
COVID-19 related education. In addition, the team provided an on-site
facility needs assessment, and assisted hospital staff with policy
development and shared knowledge gain from working on the front lines of
the pandemic.

The team has deployed to areas in the Indian Health Service system that
have either experienced or are anticipating a surge in COVID-19 cases,
including the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians,
Choctaw Health Center
in June and the Tohono O'odham Nation,
Sells Indian Hospital
in Arizona in July. The team has been deployed to the
Crow/Northern Cheyenne Hospital
in Montana since August 24 and will be heading to the Great Plains Area IHS on
September 21.

The staff at Claremore Indian Hospital are extremely grateful for the
opportunity to host the team and to take advantage of this valuable
learning opportunity. As we look to recovery from COVID-19, the CCRT will
continue to be an important resource to the IHS and the communities we
serve.

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Claremore staff and members of the CCRT conduct training with a patient
simulation mannequin at the Claremore Indian Health Hospital.

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