Field hospital is unveiled

An inside look at one of the Medical Care and Treatment Facility tents set up at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. parking lot in Garapan to house COVID-19 patients.  (IVA MAURIN)

The CNMI COVID-19 Task Force unveiled yesterday the temporary hospital that had been built at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. parking lot to house COVID-19 patients in the event of a spike in the number of cases in the CNMI.

The Lower Navy Hill installation, called the Medical Care and Treatment Facility, houses 40 beds, and will be used as a venue to provide care and treatment for COVID-19 patients.

CHCC chief executive officer Esther Muña said that it is meant to augment the hospital’s 76-bed capacity, in preparation should there be an influx of positive coronavirus cases, to ensure that there is a separation of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients in the CNMI.

“This facility will help out in making sure that our population is taken care of. CHCC has been the safety net for a lot of people for health care treatment, and we want to be able to make sure that there is that service that continues,” Muña added.

CHCC has been at the forefront of providing health care and medical treatment on the island, and this must be ensured, especially in the midst of the pandemic, she added.

“These last few days, it’s not COVID-19 patients that’s been dying. It’s the people that have been dying of chronic diseases, that we need to take care of as well. So we want to make sure that we bring back these services and really at full strength,” Muña said.

She added that health care is about being always prepared, in making sure that the Commonwealth Health Center has the capability to take care of the CNMI community. “We wouldn’t have done it without everybody’s cooperation. …This is a cooperation to ensure that our population is taken cared of.”

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres expressed appreciation to all of CNMI’s federal partners such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Department of Defense for their help.

He also thanked all of the Commonwealth’s first responders, medical professionals, nurses and doctors, the Public School System, and the Northern Marianas College, for helping make the facility possible.

“We’ve worked so hard in bringing this facility up and running,” Torres said. “Do we want to use it? Absolutely not. But we wanted to make sure that in case we need it, that it’s here, readily available.”

The governor also reminded the community to continue to practice social distancing and proper hygiene.

“Stay home as much as you can. We can never and should not put our guards down now. We have some positive results in terms of the reduction of cases, but we’re not out of the woods yet. We need to continue working together.”