The Intensive Cares (IC’s) of the hospitals in Eindhoven and surroundings are preparing for a possible second corona wave.
“We’re prepared for a second wave of corona virus, if there comes a second peak. But the longer we can postpone it, the better,” says Yvon van den Berg of St. Anna Hospital.
“At present, we’re training nurses from other departments. They can assist in the care of corona patients, if there’s a second peak”. The training is going to be completed soon.
During the first corona outbreak, many staffs from other departments helped out the corona patients. “It is purely about all sorts of assistance works, as a support”, says Van den Berg.
A number of employees at Catharina Hospital are following the same training. “The mood at the IC is generally good”, says spokesman Roel Rambags. “A number of nurses are given training to tackle the second wave of outbreak. That training is going to be completed on 1 October. We’ll be fully prepared. We’ve ordered new batch of materials, so that we don’t face problems, if there’s a second peak”.
Uncertainty
Still, there are a few things that nags the IC department. “The uncertainty does affect the staff,” says Rambags. “Of course, we don’t know if there will be a second wave. We don’t know when it will come and how big it will be. The memory of the first wave is still fresh. The idea that something like this will happen again, makes a deep impact.”
That’s why the health care staffs are also following workshops to learn how to deal with stress.
“They follow a program that teaches them to deal with alternating periods of intense physical and mental stress, and relaxation. Alternating high levels of stress on the one hand and rest on the other is something you need to practice. The program simulates that situation so that when that second wave comes, people can deal with it”.
Strategy
The Maxima Medical Center is also making preparations. “A big part of the challenge is that we don’t know what is coming”, says spokesman Jesper Rijpma. “We’ve therefore drawn up a number of scenarios of what might happen. For example, there is a strategy plan.”
At the MMC, they see the coming of a second wave, geared with confidence. “We’ve withstood the first one. We’ll also succeed the second wave, but preferably in a different way. So now we want to be clear about what we’ll do if there’s a need for extra beds. If there’s a need for more staffs, it has to be clear which departments it has to come from. These are the things we plan by working out different scenarios.”
Regular care
Other things also need to be better regulated than those were during the first outbreak of corona. “We also want to make sure that regular care can continue in case there’s a second peak. Stopping it for a second time is not an option,” Rijpma says.
Source: www.studio040.nl
Translation: Chaitali Sengupta, who gives ONLINE Inburgering classes.
