Coronavirus hospital unit opening in Decatur

Announced the new covid-19 unit at decatur morgan hospital's parkway campus in about two weeks.

Employees for the unit are going through orientation until then.

Waay 31's grace campbell learned why this new unit will be beneficial to the entire decatur morgan hospital system.

The new covid-19 unit parkway campus will allow other campuses to transfer their non-icu coronavirus patients to the new unit which will open up space in the general hospital and the intensive care unit.

Vo: across the state, about 49 percent of patients in hospitals that are positive for coronavirus are in the i-c-u.

The decatur morgan hospitals chief nursing officer says that number is reflective of the number of coronavirus patients in the decatur morgan hospital system.

Sot: anita walden, chief nursing officer: "it's really had a huge impact on us at the hospital.

We have 19 icu beds and of those, as i said, 9 of those are filled with covid patients, that we wouldn't have otherwise most likely.

That causes a backup in our emergency department and so we do have to hold patients there until there are beds made available."

Look live: walden says the new unit will help open hospital beds for noncoronavirus patients at the decatur generalcampus.

In decatur, grace campbell waay 31 ns.

Health officials previously