Our Facilities Engineering team can often be seen throughout the hospital and other Columbus Regional Health locations working on various projects that include preventative maintenance of fire protection and lighting equipment, conducting repairs in rooms and other areas, utility maintenance, and moving and remodeling equipment and furniture.

With the spread of COVID-19, the team has some added responsibilities, along with their usual workload.

Some of the projects they have been involved in include transitioning various spaces into negative airflow rooms, including our Critical Care unit, Outpatient Surgery, Post-Anesthesia Care Unit, and Cath Lab, to meet the airflow room requirements for patients with COVID-19.

The team has built barriers to separate spaces in these areas and walls to ensure the air flows and exhausts in the right direction and that other areas are not cross-contaminated. Additionally, the team conducts daily tests to ensure these areas remain negative airflow. 

In mid-March, the team helped with the opening of our two Respiratory Clinics by setting up utilities in tents where specimen swabs are collected from patients tested for COVID-19, ensuring that heaters are continuously running with propane, and creating barriers inside these practices to separate areas and help guide patients.

Changes to access control of doors and signage at these locations as well as at the hospital were also made.

After System Facilities Planning and Materials Management Director Dave Lenart researched options for safely protecting patients with COVID-19 and providers and staff during surgical procedures, local business Tom Smith Glass designed a cover that the Facilities Engineering staff then modified to be used at the hospital.

The cover can be used during intubation/extubation airway procedures.

Additional measures the team has taken to ensure a safe environment for our patients and staff include setting up a room with a UV station and sterilizer so that our Central Processing team can sanitize personal protective equipment.

All of this work has been conducted with the highest level of safety and protection. “Everyone has taken infection control measures seriously as well as the responsibility to help protect patients and staff with the measures we have put in place and monitor,” said Manager of Facility and Clinical Engineering Brian Morlok.