The Orlando Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center began treating patients in a mobile intensive care unit on Tuesday after increases in COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients, a hospital spokesperson confirmed.
“This mobile ICU will allow the Orlando VA to continue to provide necessary care to inpatients during this surge of Veteran hospitalizations,” wrote Heather Frebe in an email. “The Orlando VA began using the mobile ICU for patient care on August 31, 2021 and will continue to operate it as long as the unit is needed.”
On Wednesday, 16 of the hospital’s 24 ICU beds were occupied. The mobile unit is currently set up with beds for 10 patients, though it can treat up to 18 if needed, said Frebe. Three of the 10 mobile ICU beds are currently in use.
The fourth wave of COVID-19, which started in early July, was initially predicted to cause fewer deaths and hospitalizations than past waves due to the availability of free vaccinations. Instead, it has brought record deaths and hospitalizations to Florida, including the Orlando VA.
The Florida Hospital Association reported a decrease in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the last several days. A model that predicts COVID-19 infections in Florida by the University of Washington suggests this wave has peaked, and AdventHealth’s Central Florida division has rolled back restrictions amid a downward trend in COVID-19 patient admissions. Nicole Ray, spokesperson for Orlando Health, said on Wednesday the hospital system is also seeing a decline in COVID-19 patient admissions. Neither of the two major hospital systems plans to use a mobile ICU.
The Orlando VA has yet to see their hospitalization rates trend downward, even as inpatient teams attempt to discharge patients as soon as it is medically safe, Frebe said. While the hospital system has seen record COVID-19 deaths during this wave, it has yet to see a peak in COVID-19 patient admissions.
“Unfortunately we are experiencing more COVID-19 deaths than during the first three COVID-19 waves,” Frebe said. “We continue to encourage everyone to get vaccinated as many of our most critically ill COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.”
The mobile ICU, which is folded up and transported on trailers, also includes a mobile morgue, according to a news release from the VA’s Office of Emergency Management. The air-conditioned units have bathrooms and house a generator, water filtration system, and a medical gas generation system, among other utilities.
“Because this unit is self-supported and self-contained, providing its own oxygen generation and water treatment, it will help us take pressure off our hospital infrastructure in these areas,” Frebe added.
The Veterans Affairs healthcare system’s database reports 621 active veteran cases and 54 employee cases throughout the Orlando healthcare system on Wednesday, with active cases defined as patients tested or treated at a VA facility for known or probable COVID-19 who have neither died nor recovered, Frebe said.
The Orlando VA has reported over 7,000 COVID-19 cases in veterans and employees since March 2020, the highest number of any of Florida’s six VA healthcare systems, though it has consistently reported one of the lowest numbers of total deaths throughout the pandemic — 143.
Florida has recorded 28,393 veteran and VA employee cases since March 2020, though the true number is unknown because this figure only counts people who were tested or treated at VA facilities. There are 882 known veteran and VA employee deaths in Florida as of Wednesday.
ccatherman@orlandosentinel.com
