Bucks Co. Creates Field Hospital At The NAC: 5 Things To Know

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — The Bucks County Emergency Management Agency is establishing a field hospital at the Newtown Athletic Club to help with area healthcare needs during the coronavirus crisis.

The news, reported by Patch Wednesday, comes as 44 county residents are hospitalized with COVID-19, 14 of them in critical condition and on ventilators or other life-supporting equipment.

The field hospital will be used for overflow in the event that area facilities become overwhelmed during a potential surge in the coming weeks, officials said.

RELATED: Here's How Many ICU Beds, Ventilators Bucks Co. Has

It will be located at the club's 40,000-square-foot training center. The club closed to the public last month due to Gov. Tom Wolf's mandate that all non-essential businesses shut their doors to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Some additional details on the field hospital have been released. Here are five things to know about it:

1. 'We don't know if we will need it:' Hospitals in Bucks County are not yet threatened with being overrun with COVID-19 patients, Emergency Services Director Scott T. Forster said.

County officials said they're not willing to take any chances. “We don’t know that we will need this facility,” Forster said. “But the time when we know that we need it is not the time to get ready for it. The time to get ready is now.”

2. There will not be critically ill patients at the site: Patients at the site will likely be people in need of a few more days of hospitalization before being well enough to go home, or COVID-19 patients whose conditions are not serious enough to require a ventilator.

3. Staffing: A combination of volunteer medical workers, including both retired and active doctors and nurses, would staff the facility.

4. Timing: The space is currently being prepared and will be ready for patients by Friday, April 10, the NAC confirmed.

5. NAC praised for offering site: County officials praised NAC owner Jim Worthington for offering the site during the crisis. Worthington “has been such a good neighbor and friend to all of us,” County Commissioner Diane Marseglia said. “He called me a month ago and offered the use of the building, and has waited patiently to decide if we needed it – and in fact we have reached the point where we believe we need it."

“So we are really grateful to Jim, and grateful to all of the people who are going to turn this into a convalescent place where people can get healthy again,” she said.