November 4, 2020 - The Arena Zagreb operating headquarters are ready to receive 100 COVID-19 patients with a mild to initial moderate clinical picture. They will be cared for by 60 nurses and technicians and 18 doctors.
Jutarnji List reports that the Arena will house patients with a milder form of the infection who need rehabilitation before being discharged home, head nurse Snjezana Krpeta told reporters on Tuesday after the presentation of the COVID hospital.
In the beginning, the Arena will be able to accommodate one hundred patients. Still, there is a possibility of expanding the capacity to 290, and it will cover the area of Zagreb and parts of the county.
Krpeta explained that only agreed patients will come to the COVID hospital, which means that the institution that transfers such a patient must arrange the transfer.
Patients will be admitted to the hospital according to a pre-established protocol. Thus, the ambulance that brings the patient to the counter will show their documentation; they will then receive a bar code bracelet, after which they will be picked up at the hospital by a doctor and a nurse who will triage them and place them in a hospital bed.
The center currently has 33 oxygen bottles, two bottles in the intensive care unit, and one in the admission clinic, and in the event of an expansion of the hospital, new staff and equipment are planned.
Krpeta said that KBC Sisters of Charity has currently provided 60 nurses and technicians, logistics that will change oxygen bottles, bring food and water and take away dirty laundry, and all other ancillary activities needed for a functioning COVID hospital.
She explained that people with milder forms of the infection would be accommodated in the hospital, and these are people who are not yet for discharge home but are not for KBC Dubrava either.
"These are mostly older people who still have other comorbidities, internist and surgical patients who have a harder time recovering and then they have extended care and treatment," Krpeta said, adding that these are people who will need basic health care and basic needs, like food and changing because they sweat a lot.
In the ambulance for patients, all needs were taken into account, and the civil protection provided enough disposable bottles of water for each patient. Showering places were provided for people who will not be unwashed or malnourished. Food will be packed in disposable boxes so that it can go to waste after use.
However, before the center opens, the chief sanitary inspector has yet to take a water and air sample.
Krpeta, who will lead the nursing section, claimed that they are fully medically and technically equipped, have enough workforce and necessary materials, including a handy laboratory and a pharmacy, and have 24-hour communication with the parent KBC Sisters of Charity.
The coordinator of the organizational headquarters for the construction of Arena Zagreb, Davor Vagić, said that 18 doctors would work on one hundred beds. Three doctors would be provided by the HV, seven by KBC Sisters of Charity. In comparison, the minister would appoint eight doctors.
Colonel and neurologist Berislav Dalic, who has completed four missions in Afghanistan, said the HV was happy to respond after receiving calls from the Sisters of Charity because they saw they could help with their experiences.
Igor Milić from the Directorate of Civil Protection said that everything needed by health professionals from the non-medical work is provided with colleagues from the Armed Forces.
Minister of Health Vili Beroš said that the Arena would not be a health facility but an auxiliary health institution that will relieve the health system.
He thought about the idea and role of the Arena as a tertiary center, he said, with comparative analyzes of what was happening in the surrounding countries and reflections on what could happen in Croatia.
He explained that they are trying to think ahead and be a step, if possible, in front of this threat, and expressed hope that the Arena will not be operational, although now the numbers are much more serious, and it may be filled with patients.
He also pointed out that each of us can contribute to the Arena's capacity to be filled as little as possible.
The coordinator of the organizational headquarters for the construction of Arena Zagreb, Davor Vagić, thanked his team for making it possible in an incredibly short time, the civil protection and the Croatian Army, which participates logistically and with the work of medical staff.
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