NorthPoint prepares ‘full throttle’ for COVID-19 patient surge
Leslie Tuomi greets patients arriving at NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center on Penn Ave. N. People are stopped at the door and asked a series of questions regarding whether they have had symptoms, including a fever or contact with someone with COVID-19. Photo by David Pierini
By Kenzie O’Keefe Editor
North Minneapolis’ largest community health clinic is making sure it can meet peak patient demand in the coming months as coronavirus cases steadily climb in Hennepin County.
In early March, NorthPoint Health & Wellness began dramatically restructuring its operations for optimal safety conditions and emergency readiness.
“We have jumped in full throttle here trying to get ready for this,” said Medical Director Dr. Paul Erickson.
Erickson estimates that a patient peak could occur at NorthPoint “anywhere from the middle of April to the middle first of May,” based on the predictive models he’s seen. “No one knows for sure and our sheltering at home could push it out to May-June”
“We have our systems in place,” he said. “We may have to move things outside into tents if the volume increases.”
Without a global pandemic, NorthPoint already serves a huge patient population with a broad swath of services, including medical and behavioral health, human services, optometry and dental support, a pharmacy, and a food shelf. The majority of its patients are publicly insured, and many of them walk in off the street seeking support.
Continuing to provide these necessary services while meeting the new demands of a pandemic is the balance NorthPoint’s leaders are looking to strike.
Dr. Paul Erickson, NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center. Photo by David Pierini
Most of NorthPoint’s clinical services have been consolidated at the main campus (1313 Penn Ave. N). The community food shelf is open at 1835 Penn Ave. N and human services is connecting with participants via phone. Erickson says one of the most helpful things patients can do is to call before coming to the clinic.
“Some people are really frightened and fearful and some don’t think this is a big deal. The more we can communicate and educate and talk to people about that, hopefully we can keep them home as much as possible and bring them into our clinical spaces only when we need to.” he said.
When patients arrive at the clinic, they are screened for COVID-19 symptoms at the door. If they have symptoms, they are sent to a designated area of the clinic where they are screened further and tested for the virus if deemed necessary.
As of early April, Erickson said about 40 patients and staff members had been tested. All came back negative.
When possible, services are being conducted virtually. “Our dietician, diabetes educator, health coach, behavioral therapists, and increasingly our medical providers are doing a lot of work on the telephone,” said Erickson.
Preventative care has largely been put on hold. Only emergency dental and optometry services are being conducted. Routine medical checkups have also been paused.
The pharmacy is busy. The state just changed its requirement that Medicaid recipients could only pick up a month of their prescriptions at a time. Now they are able to get three months at time. Erickson says these are often people on chronic medication for diabetes and hypertension, who are at greater risk of developing life threatening COVID-19 symptoms.
‘For the healthcare workers, it’s scary’
Great care is being taken to support the clinic’s frontline workers so they can healthily sustain the herculean task upon and ahead of them.
“For the healthcare workers, it’s scary. They’re watching the TV and seeing what’s happening in New York. I admire their courage for coming to work. Folks have been pretty willing to step up and put on a gown and do the work,” Erickson said.
The medical clinic has switched to a two-team system. Teams rotate one week in the clinic and one week at home doing electronic work. “If one team gets sick, the whole place doesn’t get shut down,” he said.
Dr. Kevin Gilliam, right, dons an N95 mask as he gets ready to test a patient for COVID-19 at NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center. Photo by David Pierini
Clinic hours now begin at 10am, two hours later than before. This is to accommodate a daily morning staff meeting in the health center’s large lobby. Some attend virtually; others attend in person and physically distance.
“Fear and anxiety is often driven by not knowing things,” said Erickson. The morning meetings are intended to promote transparency around PPE supplies, patient numbers, testing, state data, and projections.
Selfcare is also promoted. “Sometimes we do a breathing exercise or a little gratitude moment, almost like a little gratitude meditation,” said Erickson. If providers are sick, they are urged to stay home. Conference rooms have been turned into “calm staff wellness rooms.”
“We’re talking, supporting one another, and sharing our concerns,” said Erickson.
“We have a system in place now; it’s safe for people to come here.”
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