Cal Poly Rec Center transformed into a treatment site for coronavirus patients

The shoved-aside fitness equipment is a vestige of what the Cal Poly Rec Center was only a few weeks ago.

Last week, San Luis Obispo County announced that the gym would serve as an alternate care site for coronavirus patients whose needs are between hospitalization and home care. The site, which is being put together by public and private partnerships, also serves as a backup care facility in the event that all four local hospitals reach full capacity.

“You almost couldn’t find a better purpose-built facility than this place to build up the alternate care site,” Tenet Health Central Coast CEO Mark Lisa said.

Now, dorm beds line the basketball court floor. Trusses once used to hold stage lights for concerts now dangle chords to potentially provide power to phone chargers, IV stations and oxygen equipment.

Racquetball courts have become changing rooms and storage spaces. The activity center holds pallets of N95 masks and personal protective equipment. Security guards have replaced student employees.

Everything has changed.

When it’s fully outfitted, the site could house as many as 931 beds in the Rec Center and neighboring Mott Gym. The county is preparing to open the facility on Wednesday — a little more than a week after the transformation began. Plans call for it to be opened in phases, as needed.

“There’s been high-speed, high-intensity effort since we pulled the trigger to get this thing off the ground,” Lisa said.

Phase 1 is almost ready for patients

The first phase, which is nearly operational, will have the capacity to accommodate 165 COVID-19 patients in Rec Center’s rec gym.

Two methods of providing oxygen — oxygen concentrators and liquid oxygen — have been built into the first phase area, according to the care site construction lead and CEO of Trust Automation Ty Safreno.

“We have two systems for redundancy,” Safreno said.

In the event of a power outage, the oxygen concentrators won’t work, so the facility would use a liquid oxygen system that would provide a high flow of oxygen using a non-electrical source. The county also has two on-site emergency generators.

As construction and county workers finish the final touches on Phase 1, Phases 2 through 4 are well underway. In the Rec Center’s main gym, where winter graduation ceremonies are traditionally held, an additional 275 beds are being prepared.

From there, the county and private partners plan to continue expanding to reach 931 beds.

The site came together as a result of partnerships between the county, Cal Poly, Trust Automation, RRM Design Group, McCall Plumbing & Mechanical, Thoma Electric, and county hospitals. The site construction was paid for by county funds, but county Supervisor Lynn Compton said the county expects to be reimbursed by state and federal funding.

Lisa, who is a former naval officer, was impressed by the teamwork that turned plans into reality in a matter of days.

“I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it since I was in the military, everybody having this strong desire to serve their community,” he said.

How the alternate care site will operate

County Public Health spokesperson Michelle Shoresman said the site is not a field hospital. Although there will be medical equipment, like IV stations and oxygen, it will not function as a hospital for acute-care patients.

As of Monday, the county had 95 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with several patients in the hospital and 25 recovering at home, according to ReadySLO.org. The care site will serve as a space for people who need some care, but not intensive care.

“(The alternate care site) really is an overflow facility that is really designed to take some of the pressure off of the general acute-care hospitals that might be feeling the impact of the surge,” Lisa said.

The site will primarily be staffed by Medical Reserve Corps volunteers.

The site’s employees will enter the facility through the back. Upon signing in, they will be directed to a changing room, formerly the racquetball and squash courts, to change into scrubs. Then, over their scrubs they will put on personal protective equipment in a tent a little further along the path to the patient area.

The same process will lead them back out.

As for patients, people may not enter the site without a referral from the county or a local hospital. Patients will be escorted in through the front and directed to an open bed.

Each bed is given a bedside table and power area for medical equipment and personal charging. There will be no visitors permitted, so Lisa said they wanted to be able to give patients an option to communicate with their families via phone.

While there are no dividers between each bed, there will be a privacy curtain dividing the room in half — males on one side, females on the other, Lisa said.

Lisa said patients at the care site who improve will be sent home, and those who worsen will be transferred to a hospital.