Boston-based New England Baptist Hospital recently transitioned into a facility to treat non-coronavirus patients, the Boston Herald reports.
Massachusetts hospitals and health systems are preparing for a spike in the number of COVID-19 patients across the state in the next 10 days.
The orthopedic hospital, an affiliate of Beth Israel Lahey Health in Boston, does not have an emergency room or urgent care facilities. Therefore, it has been repurposed as a non-coronavirus hospital to help ease the burden on facilities treating COVID-19 patients.
"It's almost like playing chess to balance the care for our patients," Richard Nesto, CMO of BLRH, told the Herald.
"The staff at New England Baptist were fixing hips and knees before. They're now caring for patients with all kinds of medical problems," Mr. Nesto added. "We have a lot of staff having to quickly learn and perform new functions to care for our patients."