South Kent News

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, as much of the world ground to a halt, the Office of Continuous Improvement’s (OCI) Lean Process Improvement specialists went into high gear to meet the rising demands that the crisis created.

OCI Director Holly Grandy-Miller joined staff in early April in evaluating a field hospital meant to assist Ascension Michigan and Saint Joseph Mercy Health System hospitals by providing an alternate care site for low to moderately severe COVID-19 patients to recover, according to Michigan.gov. The field hospital was meant to help prevent crowding in hospitals, enabling them to focus on those who were most critically ill.

To meet the immediate demands presented by the crisis, the team, which also included Lean Process Improvement Manager Brett Gleason and Lean Process Improvement Specialist Anne Cram, whittled down a two-week process into 90 minutes, creating an assessment of the project plan and providing suggestions for how to make it more efficient on a reduced timeline.

To evaluate how people would move through the building, the team worked with representatives of Ascension Health, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other stakeholders to map out details, such as where staff would change out their scrubs and and whether those would be washed at home or at work.

“Transition areas were also important,” Cram said, according to Michigan.gov. “Mapping out the movement of individuals meant that food could be provided to patients without cross-contaminating the building.”

But in the short time span, the team also evaluated such aspects of the facility as utility line placement, pharmacy security, a transition zone for the ambulance drop-off, an air lock for the morgue, and even the creation of transition zones for the exchange of linens and food.