Michigan hospitals have enough personal protective equipment to deal with a potential second wave of COVID-19 cases, the Michigan Health and Hospital Association told the Lansing State Journal.
A spokesperson for the organization said that Michigan hospitals began stocking up on supplies of PPE when they saw a drop in cases at the end of spring.
"Since Michigan experienced a surge of COVID-19 patients in March and April, hospitals have been purchasing PPE to meet their needs and increase their inventory," the spokesperson told the Journal.
The senior vice president of Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Alan Vierling, DNP, RN, told the Journal that the hospital has had to develop contacts in the supply chain to build up its inventory because it could be "too late" by the time another surge in COVID-19 cases happens.
"If you’re not proactive at this point in time, it’s too late," Dr. Vierling told the Journal.
When cases began to slow down at the hospital, Sparrow ramped up acquisition of PPE and began working with more companies in the supply chain. The mindset was that it was never time to stop buying PPE, Dr. Vierling told the Journal.
Community partnerships for supply drives and an initiative to sanitize and reuse N95 masks also helped to boost the hospital's stock.
McLaren Greater Lansing Hospital told the Journal that it is "uniquely poised" to meet any future supply challenges because it has partnered with a domestic PPE supplier.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services hasn't released statistics on ventilators available to the state.
Read the full article here.