Page 3 - The Frances and Nathan Kirsh Emergency Department

Soroka has done its utmost to ensure the quality of its teams’ work, employing
multiple practices to reduce contact between staff members. For example, in
the Emergency Department, the staff was divided into three teams in order
to minimize contact and infection that otherwise could have led to it being
incapacitated. In many units, teams were split into groups that do not meet
with each other to ensure the survival of units critical to Soroka’s continuing
operation. The Virology Lab team, which performs hundreds of tests a day to
diagnose the virus, was split into two separate teams working at two different
sites. Some ambulatory services were provided by means of telemedicine
technologies. Alongside all of the activities at Soroka, we interface with the
community in a variety of ways in the context of coping with the outbreak and
treating COVID-19 patients.

• Team training took place on the measures required to ensure safety and on treating cases of complex illness and ventilated patients while wearing
special protective gear. Staff members and volunteers were also trained as respiratory care assistants.

• At the same time, the Emergency Department teams continue to provide regular treatment on a daily basis to hundreds of patients, including
soldiers from the various bases throughout the Negev.

• Since the outbreak of the corona virus, over 4,500 patients have been treated at the dedicated respiratory Emergency Department compound.
Now, as we cope with the challenges posed by the second wave of the virus, we also expect another, perhaps even more significant, wave of illness
in the coming months with the combination of COVID-19 and winter illnesses such as influenza and the possibility that it may catastrophically
overwhelm the Israeli healthcare system.
We are working to prepare additional complexes and respirators for the hospitalization of COVID-19 patients that will enable us to provide services
to dozens more patients.
I would like to share with you a link to a news report that was recently broadcast on Israel TV: https://youtu.be/ExorAf1PQL0.
The report describes how we are coping with the virus and highlights the challenging work in the ER.