STAFF: Today we have for you Colonel Hope Williamson-Younce, who is the commander of the 627th Hospital Center. She is currently in Seattle, Washington. With her today is Lieutenant Colonel Jason Hughes. He is the commander of the 10th Field Hospital. Typical ground rules apply. Because we've got folks on the phone, we'll do two on the phone, one in the room, and we have about 30 minutes.
So with that, I will turn it over to Colonel Hope Williamson-Younce for her opening statement.
COLONEL HOPE WILLIAMSON-YOUNCE: Good morning. My name is Colonel Hope Williamson-Younce, and I'm a proud Army nurse and commander of the 627th Hospital Center based in Fort Carson, Colorado.
For this forward mission we fly under the banner of Task Force West, led by Brigadier General Doug Cherry. We have an important mission. We are supporting a whole-of-government approach to, on order, receive non-COVID coronavirus patients from our surrounding hospitals in the Seattle, Washington area of responsibility. Now, this will allow those hospitals increased capacity to take care of COVID patients.
We are establishing and quickly building medical capability and capacity for a Role 3, 250-bed field hospital at CenturyLink Event Center. We are expeditionary, we're agile, and we're responsive. We have medical doctors, nurses, and support staff from all over the world. They're mobilized in a moment's notice to support the American people.
The Joint Medical Task Force is comprised of many different elements. 627th Hospital Center's 10th Field Hospital brings the 148-bed capability, led by Lt. Col. Jason Hughes, and there's two other elements from the 62nd Medical Brigade led by Colonel Laura Elliott, and they are based out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Seattle. This gives us the home court advantage. We have the 47th Combat Support Hospital, and this is led by Colonel Amal Chatila, and the 520th Area Support Medical Company, and this is led by Will Mackey. So we look forward to providing world-class health care, and we are glad to be here. This is why we exist.
I'll be followed by Lieutenant Colonel Jason Hughes, field hospital commander.
LIEUTENANT COLONEL JASON HUGHES: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Lieutenant Colonel Jason Hughes here, commander of the 10th Field Hospital out of Fort Carson, Colorado.
We exist to save and sustain lives anywhere in the world. We prepare for missions like this day to day in the field, where we set up our field gear, or in our medical treatment facilities worldwide like Colonel Williamson-Younce spoke to earlier.
Our clinicians, our soldiers work day to day in those DOD facilities, which are training platforms. We bring 148 of the 250 beds here at CenturyLink to bear from Colorado. That includes an emergency room, operating suites, labs, microbiology, blood banking capabilities, X-ray, mental health, and ministry services; also, 100 intermediate-care wards and 40 intensive-care units. And what I like to characterize this as a one-stop shop for your mind, body and soul.
And this is an important mission for us. First, I grew up in Washington state. To be able to come back here to my home and serve the American people is an opportunity of a lifetime. But these soldiers are excited to be here and do their mission. That's why they signed up to serve -- serve the nation, raise their right hand and come and serve the American people, whether that's abroad or, in this case, at home.
And so we're excited to -- to open up beds for those non-COVID patients, to come here and get the world-class care that we provide daily in our MTFs, and then allow people that have COVID to access the care so we can save as many lives as possible.
I think now we'll open it up for questions.
STAFF: Great. The first question goes to Lita on the phone.
Q: Hi, thanks. It's Lita Baldor with A.P.
Can you tell us, number one, how many total medical personnel you have? If you have started accepting patients yet? And what do you see as the challenges, what are you hearing from the hospitals as far as what -- what patients you would be able to expect and how quickly you can expect them?
Thank you.
LT. COL. HUGHES: Yes, ma'am. Great question. Lieutenant Colonel Hughes here.
So we have about 500 medical professionals on the ground, setting up the hospital currently. Some of the challenges that we face here is, when we go to war, we set up on the field, we set up in tents, we construct a tent city and we have beds that are close -- near to each other. So privacy concerns that we have for civilian patients, we're constructing barriers in between the beds that we wouldn't normally have in a field setting.
Some of the other things we're working with are noise abatement for oxygen generation systems and our power systems, to make sure that the civilians that come here have an experience commensurate with what they'd have at a local hospital here. We have not seen patients yet, we're still currently in the build phase of the hospital.
And then as far as what patients we expect to see coming here, those will -- those discussions will be had, clinical specialty to clinical specialty with those local hospitals, to make sure that we have the capability to support those patients that come in here.
The standard of care will be the same. We just want to make sure we have those specialties and we understand the needs of the patients, so that care that they receive here is the same they would at the local hospital they're being referred to us by.
So what's important to note is, we will not have an open E.R. like a normal hospital would have. We are a referral facility for those local hospitals to offload patients from their beds into our facility, to open up beds for COVID patients in the local facilities.
STAFF: Thank you.
Next we'll go to Tara.
Q: Hi, thank you. Tara Copp with McClatchy.
To follow up on Lita's question, do you have a timeline for when you'll take on your first patients?
And then more broadly, there's been some concern that these hospitals and the hospital ships themselves are just going to treat non-COVID when the strain on the hospitals is really the COVID patients, especially since all the elective surgeries have been postponed. Are there any discussions to maybe convert this field hospital to be able to take on COVID patients? Because that might be really the -- the overflow that pushes the Washington state hospitals.
COL. WILLIAMSON-YOUNCE: So, ma'am, this is Hope Williamson-Younce. That's another great question.
So at this time, I can speak to the 627th Hospital Center mission and the 10th Field Hospital mission. And that is to take non-COVID patients in the 10th -- in the 10th and the 627th Hospital Center.
So this truly -- this 250 beds will relieve, that burden, if you will, on our civilian hospitals and they will have the freedom of maneuver to then have the capability to take care of those COVID patients. And so that -- that is the best place -- I'm -- I am a nurse practitioner, that is the best place for those patients to be inside the fixed facility in a controlled environment.
However, we will do the screening here at the door to make sure that we do not receive COVID-19 patients. If we do, by chance, we are prepared to isolate those patients, and then again treat them with the same care, dignity, and respect and get them back in our fixed facilities, if that makes sense.
STAFF: Okay, go ahead.
Q: Sure and -- and thank you for that.
I guess as a follow up, are there any discussions for, would you be able to convert to a COVID treatment facility if that's truly where the need is? Some of these Washington State hospitals, although there was initial strain after all the elective surgeries were postponed, have ample room right now and if they get overrun by anything, it's going to be COVID cases.
Thank you very much, by the way.
COL. WILLIAMSON-YOUNCE: Yeah, so my -- my pledge -- or -- and -- and understand to your question, that -- that's a policy question for the Department of Defense and I can only speak to the 627th Hospital Center, 10th Field Hospital -- Hospital assigned mission at this time.
STAFF: Thank you, Hope. We'll go to Tom here in the room.
Q: Yes. I'm Tom Bowman with NPR.
You -- you talked about 250 beds. They'll be at the CenturyLink Center, is that right? And also, do you have the ability to expand beyond the 250 or would you have to call in other units?
LT. COL. HUGHES: So -- so, sir, yes, all 250 beds will be here at the CenturyLink field. If there was an expansion capability, that's -- we would -- there would be a -- need more clinicians to fulfill that capability. So that's really FEMA -- between FEMA and the states to determine that.
But as far as what we've brought to bear here at CenturyLink, those are the providers and the soldiers and the capability we have here currently.
Q: Well, since the -- Seattle is a hotspot, I'm sure someone’s doing projections, either at the state level or at FEMA. Do you expect that there'll be a greater need there? And then finally, who runs the CenturyLink Center? Is that a city facility, is it private?
LT. COL. HUGHES: Yeah, as -- as far as the projection, I mean I think the Department of Health and CDC have those projection numbers. So I would defer to them. As far as who runs the facility here -- so we're working hand-in-hand with the staff here at CenturyLink, which obviously works with the Seattle Seahawks. As far as who -- who owns it, I -- I'm unaware of that but I know that FEMA and the -- and the CenturyLink Event Center are working hand in hand to make sure we have everything we need to support the people here in Washington State.
Q: Are they renting that facility, do you know? FEMA?
COL. WILLIAMSON-YOUNCE: Contracted. Yes, they're -- this is Hope Williamson-Younce again, and that's correct. This facility is being contracted by FEMA.
STAFF: Great. We'll go to Courtney Kube on the phone.
Q: Hi, thank you. It's Courtney Kube from NBC News. Just two follow-ons.
The -- do you have any respirators in this facility so if in fact you were changed to a COVID mission, you'd be able to treat patients?
And then you mentioned, ma'am, that the -- you're screening the patients as they come in, which is different than what we've learned from the hospital ships, where the hospitals that transfer the patients over have to do the screening and they include the full on COVID test, and unless someone comes back negative, they aren't transferred to the hospital ships.
So I just want to be sure I understood that correctly, that the patients are not screened or tested for coronavirus before they're actually brought to the hospital. Is that correct?
COL. WILLIAMSON-YOUNCE: No, ma'am, it was your former, as you said. The patients that are being transferred from the hospitals, they're screened and they're cleared prior to getting to the 10th Field Hospital Center here, to our 250 bed field hospital.
Again, as, out of an abundance of precaution, when they get to the door here, we screen them again to ensure that they don't have a temperature or -- and we also do the questionnaire from the CDC to make sure that these patients are not high risk.
So out of an abundance of caution, again, we'll screen them before we take them into the facility to make sure that we keep the soldiers and the medical staff here safe.
And then to answer your other question, you talked about respirators or ventilators, I believe is what you were speaking to.
Q: I'm sorry, yes, I always mix those two up. Yes, ma'am.
COL. WILLIAMSON-YOUNCE: For the respirators and the N95 masks, we have all of our personal protective equipment here, so that -- that -- that answers that one, here for the staff who provide that patient care and to keep our staff safe.
But the -- the ventilators -- we have 60 fully mission capable ventilators here and we can provide 60 beds -- ventilator beds.
STAFF: Great, thanks --
Q: Okay, great.
And just to be clear, when you say that you're screening the patients when they get here, both at the hospital they're being screened and then when they get there, you mean with the temperature checks and the questionnaire but at any point are people actually -- do they have to test negative, like actually go through a COVID-19 test and come back negative before they're even transferred out of the hospital?
COL. WILLIAMSON-YOUNCE: Great clarifying question, ma'am. They do not. So we just want to make sure they've already been screened at the sending hospital, again, that out of an abundance of precaution we screen them again and then we do the -- the CDC questionnaire.
STAFF: Okay, we'll go to --
Q: Thank you so much.
STAFF: -- please? Sylvie on the phone, please?
Q: Did you call me?
STAFF: Oui.
Q: This is -- ok. This is Sylvie from AFP.
Actually, I -- Courtney asked my -- my question. But I -- in that case, if they don't get any COVID-19 tests before getting to your hospital, you -- you can suspect that at some point you will get some COVID-19 infected patients. Do I understand well?
LT. COL. HUGHES: So, yes, ma'am, I -- I think when we look at the -- the patients that come through the door, we'll still have the Personal Protective Equipment and we'll do the screening. What's important to note is we're -- we're still in discussions with local facilities here on how exactly that's going to work.
And so we're doing what -- what we call rehearsal of concepts or -- or battle drills in the military, really standard operating procedures of how each one of the hospitals local to us will refer or feed patients into this facility. And so we got on the ground, I believe Wednesday was our ADVON last week. Friday was our -- what we call main body, or majority of the troops showed up.
And so while we're building this hospital, we have the clinical teams integrated and discussing with the Department here -- of Health here at Washington State and the local medical community to make sure that we -- we do this the right way, and the patients that come here get the care they deserve without compromising this facility, if that helps answer that question or clarify.
Q: Yes, thank you.
STAFF: Great. We'll go to Jen in the room, please.
COL. HUGHES: Yes, ma'am.
Q: Jennifer Griffin from Fox News.
So just if you could state clearly, right now, you're still in negotiations with how you will test the patients in the hospital before they're transferred over. Do you expect and are you demanding that they have a negative test -- either that comes back within hours, or sometimes it's taking days -- before they transfer?
And then second, you say you have 60 mission-capable ventilators, but yet you're not going to be getting COVID patients. Wouldn't those ventilators be better used elsewhere?
COL. WILLIAMSON-YOUNCE: I'll let Lieutenant Colonel Jason Hughes answer the first part of the question, and I'll answer the second part of the question for the ventilator use.
LT. COL. HUGHES: So, ma'am, as far as our negotiations, I don't know if I would consider those negotiations, it's more discussing how we take care of those individual patients. So right now, our mission, as we know it from FEMA, is to take care of non-COVID-19 patients. And so that frees up beds.
And I understand the concern of the hospitals being overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, but when we relieve the stress on those beds, it allows them to repurpose some of their clinical specialties in those hospitals to then focus on the COVID-19. So that's one of our missions here, is to release the stress on the health system and that's one way we can do that, by taking those low-acuity, mid-acuity, or high-acuity patients here that do not have COVID.
And so I can't speak to exactly how that's going to work because again, we're -- the clinicians that deal with this day-to-day, the public health officials are working on how that referral process is going to work to make sure that this hospital does what it's asked to do by FEMA.
And I'll be followed by Colonel Williamson-Younce.
COL. WILLIAMSON-YOUNCE: And so Hope Williamson-Younce here again.
As Lieutenant Colonel Hughes stated, this Role 3 facility with the 250 beds, the capability is to provide low through the high-acuity care for our patients. So should we need those 60 ventilators, we are prepared to utilize them. But, again, with the Role 3 capability, those are integral to what we're providing here on the ground.
STAFF: Go to Ryan, please.
Q: Thanks.
Colonel Hughes, sorry, I don't know, I might have missed it, but did you say when you will be able to start receiving patients and when do you expect to start receiving patients?
And then I had a quick follow-up.
LT. COL. HUGHES: Yes, sir. So -- so we're in the middle of building the hospital right now. I believe early next week is when we'll be available to receive patients. But again, that's -- right now, we're basically a construction zone, putting up all this military capability and then supplementing those with -- with the patient privacy and infection control procedures here. So we expect to be ready to go early next week.
Q: And do you anticipate -- just two quick follow-ups -- do you anticipate patients arriving right away, or do you still need to kind of work out the referral process with the local hospitals?
And that 500 you mentioned, is that going to be the steady state presence, when the hospital’s at IOC, or is that going to go down once construction is finished?
LT. COL. HUGHES: No, sir. That's the steady-state number, about 500 PAX here. So we use those same soldiers to build the hospital as we do to staff the hospital.
And then your -- your first question is -- so while we're building the hospital, a lot of our clinical staff is working with the local, you know, medical facilities here and the Department of Health and FEMA, to make sure that we do that right. So when we say we're open for business, that means we're available to receive patients.
Now, whether the hospitals offload patients to us immediately, that remains to be seen based on -- on how many -- the numbers that are going through those doors there. But we'll be ready whether they come or not. We'll see what the -- what the local network can handle, but we'll be ready to go early next week.
Q: Excellent. Thank you.
STAFF: Great, we'll go to Therese on the line.
Q: Yes, hi, this is Therese Garnier with Newsy. Thank you so much for taking my question.
I just wanted to get clarified the numbers that you stated. I believe you said it was 148 beds, 100 intermediate care wards and 40 ICU units, is that correct?
LT. COL. HUGHES: Ma'am, it's 48 ICUs, but that's just my part of -- of the hospital. So of the 250 beds here, I bring 148 of those, and that's what they have. The 47th CSH (Combat Support Hospital) brings another 84 beds, 24 of those are ICU and 60 are ICW. And then the 520th Medical Company Area Support, also out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, brings 40 minimal care beds. And so that's what we'll have here, total.
Q: Thank you.
LT. COL. HUGHES: Yes, ma'am.
STAFF: Okay, we'll go to Jeff on the line.
Q: Thank you very much. I just wanted -- this is Jeff Schogol with Task and Purpose.
I want to do a follow-up on the question from my colleague at Fox News. I understand that you have the full spectrum of capabilities at this hospital, but given the dire need of ventilators -- and unfortunately, I'm very well acquainted with what ventilators are used for -- why not provide the 60 ventilator beds to local hospitals?
Thank you.
COL. WILLIAMSON-YOUNCE: So that's just a great question, and forward thinking on your part.
But, again, we've been assigned this mission, to provide that full-spectrum capability of low-acuity to high-acuity, with a requirement space of providing ventilated beds.
So to move forward and the way ahead, that is a policy question for the Department of Defense, and I can only speak to the 627th Hospital Center and 10th Field Hospital assigned mission.
STAFF: Great, we'll go to Tom in the room.
Q: Yeah, it's Tom Bowman again with NPR.
Colonel, you know, Seattle again is a hotspot and the volume of patients coming into the Seattle hospitals are COVID-19 folks. You're likely to see hundreds if not thousands in the coming weeks, so if you're not accepting any COVID-19 people -- and I'm sure everybody's happy to have 250 beds -- it seems you're not addressing the real need in Seattle.
COL. WILLIAMSON-YOUNCE: So, sir, appreciate your questions and comments.
And again, we don't know what that patient load will be from the surrounding hospitals. Indeed, just to give you a picture here, we could receive patients that may have respiratory difficulty or some other kind of disease state that require ventilation, and so we have to be prepared to provide that great care.
So again, moving forward, that would be a Department of Defense question. Again, we can only speak to the 627th Hospital Center/10th Field Hospital assigned mission set here on the ground.
Q: And you -- you're in touch, obviously, with health providers in Seattle. Are they giving you any sense of the numbers, the need in Seattle? They would, presumably, know.
COL. WILLIAMSON-YOUNCE: Yes, sir.
We have our leaders here on the ground, our clinical professionals that are engaged with the Department of Health, FEMA, and then all of our partners in the Seattle AOR (Area of Responsibility). So they are having those discussions. So we will have a better understanding in a site picture of what we're to receive here.
Q: Well, again, what are you hearing about numbers?
COL. WILLIAMSON-YOUNCE: Sir, I don't have that information at this time.
STAFF: Okay. We'll go to Jen in the room.
Q: What would it take to convert your hospitals to a COVID -- for COVID patients if you're asked to do so? Could you do so, and what would it take to -- to convert?
LT. COL. HUGHES: So -- so, ma'am, right now that's not our mission. Obviously, if FEMA directed us to do that, we'd go on a mission analysis and -- and look at that. But that's really a policy question for the Department of Defense. Again, our job is to follow their direction and FEMA's direction, and so until we get a change of mission, our focus right now is building those 250 beds to support the non-COVID patients.
STAFF: Thanks. Lara? No? Okay.
Team, please go ahead and start with your closing comments.
COL. WILLIAMSON-YOUNCE: This is Hope Williamson-Younce again.
I just wanted to thank you all for some -- for those questions. They were -- they were very insightful, and so thank you again for your questions, and hopefully, we answered your questions to the fullest extent possible.
So in closing, just two touch points here, and that is I am absolutely confident that we will accomplish our mission to the fullest extent, and our team is well-led, well-trained, and well-equipped. And in keeping with the chief of the staff of the Army's number-one priority, people are at the centerpiece, both our patients and our troops, and we are glad to be here to support the American people.
Thank you.
LT. COL. HUGHES: Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, the unit commander at 10th Field Hospital.
Again, thank you for helping tell our soldier's stories. They -- this is the reason they raised their right hand and I raised my right hand to join the military. It -- it's for moments like this. Our role in life, our purpose is to save and sustain lives, but also to serve the American people worldwide. And so we are humbled and excited to be a part of this mission, this national fight against COVID-19 and -- and -- and to be a part of it.
So again, each -- every one of these soldiers here is proud to be a part of the United States Army and to serve this -- this country, as am I. And for -- for me to be able to come back to my home state and know that I can free up beds at a local facility so one of my family members who might come down with the disease has the ability to go get health care, it -- it's something that's -- is a lifetime dream for me. So I appreciate you telling our story and -- and asking those tough questions, and I look forward to speaking to you again in the future.
STAFF: Thank you all for your time.
Q: Thank you.