Dr. Praveen Saran

Give us a brief account of what you have experienced recently. 

COVID-19 or Corona Virus infection, as it is more commonly known, has hit the world very hard. Initially, the cases were sporadic, few and far between. The first case was reported on November 17, 2019 in Wuhan city of Hubei province of China; the first reported case in the US was January 20, 2020. Fast forward to April 28, 2020 -- COVID-19 has been confirmed in around 210 countries or territories. The virus has infected 3,081,410 people worldwide, and the number of deaths has totaled 212,337.

Las Vegas was not any stranger to this menace. At Southern Nevada Health District, we were tasked with setting up public health policy, screening and testing the patients at SNHD, the homeless population in collaboration with Catholic Charities, Salvation Army and the Cashman Field Iso-Q unit, and providing guidance to the general public. Under the leadership of Jeff Quinn, Manager of the Office of Public Health Preparedness at Southern Nevada Health District, a comprehensive program was launched. 

We started screening patients at homeless shelters and, depending on the findings, placed them in quarantine or isolation units or admitted them to the hospital. All over the valley, hospitals were getting flooded with patients sick with COVID-19 infection. In order to prevent the clogging of the health care system, a major challenge was the safe discharge of these post COVID-19 patients, for their own protection and protection of the community. 

David Marlon, CEO of Crossroads of Southern Nevada, asked me if it would be possible to set up a unit to take these patients. We had an extensive meeting and decided to set up an Isolation Unit totally sealed off from all other facility patients. Initially there was an apprehension among the staff about their own exposure. I conducted in-service training at which we discussed how to use Personal Protective Equipment and how to otherwise minimize chances of infection. After their legitimate concerns were addressed, almost every staff member agreed to work, and a 33 bed COVID-19 unit became operational.

It is just a matter of time before we will overcome this menace. There is a reason we are called “Vegas Strong.”