Beaumont Wayne to take only COVID-19 patients to reduce surge at all locations

WAYNE, Mich. (FOX 2) - Beaumont doctors will decide which COVID-19 positive patients will be moved to the hospital in Wayne and the transition will happen as soon as possible.

With 650 COVID-19 patients in its care and another 200-plus with tests pending, Beaumont Health is putting its surge plan into action-sending some of those patients to Beaumont Wayne. The move is to alleviate the heavy inflow of patients at its other campuses throughout metro Detroit.

Beaumont moving COVID-19 patients to Wayne location to deal with overflow

Beaumont Wayne will soon be treating COVID-19 patients only for the time being in order to manage the surge in cases.

"It's centrally located, for one, for all of our campuses," said Beaumont COO Carolyn Wilson. "Two, they have a lot of expertise in communicable disease being close to the Detroit airport. we've invested even more training and specialty into that campus to care for these type of patients."

Wilson says they will temporarily shut down the Wayne campus emergency center to make room for more COVID-19 patients.

Obstetrical services will wind down and be moved to Dearborn. Curbside screening in Wayne will also close.

Patients needing emergency care even for COVID-19 are encouraged to go to Beaumont Canton or another hospital.

"We're also working closely with our state and our partner resources and looking to transfer, when possible, patients outside of Beaumont into areas that don't have a lot of COVID-19 patients at this point," Wilson said.

There are nearly 3,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Michigan and more than 60 people have died.

Some hospitals in metro Detroit are nearing capacity, treating patients infected with the novel coronavirus.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is pleading with the public to comply with the order to shelter in place.

Wilson says while it's unclear when the outbreak will peak, there is reason to hope: from the dedicated medical professionals meeting the challenge day in and day out, to communities pulling together.

"Cars are driving up continuously to give us donations and bring us things," Wilson said. "We just have an outpouring of support from our community saying thank you in different ways. The outpouring from the community gives me hope."

In preparation of the surge in patients in Wayne, Beaumont says they plan to safely discharge as many patients as possible over the next couple of days to the next appropriate level of care - as well as identify the resources and staffing needed to manage extra COVID-19 patients in Wayne.

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Beaumont Health Chief Operating Officer Carolyn Wilson said in the release, “The Beaumont, Wayne team has the expertise and ability to respond quickly to meet the needs of our COVID-19 patients. When patients come to a Beaumont hospital to seek care for COVID-19, our physicians will assess them. If the hospital does not have the capacity to care for the patient, we will transfer more COVID-19 patients to Beaumont Hospital, Wayne.

“We continue to monitor the shifting volumes and needs of our patients and teams across Beaumont to make the best decisions. I am confident the team at our Wayne hospital is ready to serve the needs of COVID-19 patients. We are sending additional staff, supplies and equipment to help support our phenomenal team at Wayne.”

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